MANILA, March 9 (Reuters) - The Philippines' unemployment
rate remained at 8.7% in January, unchanged from the last
official survey in October, with more people rejoining the
labour force as the country relaxed coronavirus curbs and
reopened the economy.
The Southeast Asian nation, one of the region's fastest
growing economies before the pandemic, is grappling with a
renewed spike in COVID-19 infections though the government has
ruled out reimposing tighter restrictions.
The unemployment rate in January, equivalent to four million
jobless people, compared with 5.3%, or 2.4 million without jobs,
in the same period last year, data from the Philippine
Statistics Authority showed on Tuesday.
The labour force expanded to 45.2 million in January from
43.6 million in October.
The employment number "tells us that we are on track to
getting back most of the jobs we have lost due to COVID-19 and
the quarantines," said a joint statement from the Philippine
government's economic managers, which includes the finance,
economic planning and budget ministers.
A gradual relaxation of community quarantine measures and
further opening of public transportation will boost consumer
spending and provide more job opportunities, the officials said.
The unemployment rate hit a record 17.7% in April,
equivalent to 7.3 million people without jobs, as President
Rodrigo Duterte imposed strict lockdown measures to prevent the
spread of the virus.