Gov’t says unemployment down 7.5%



Agence France-Presse
First Posted 12:24:00 06/16/2009

Filed Under: Economy and Business and Finance, Economic Indicators, Unemployment


MANILA, Philippines--Unemployment fell to 7.5 percent in April from 8.0 percent a year earlier, according to the latest jobs data released Tuesday.

The rate represented a drop from 7.7 percent in January, when the last figures from the quarterly National Statistics Office's labor force survey were released.

Underemployment, defined as those working under 40 hours a week, rose to 18.9 percent from 18.2 percent in January. The figure was down from 19.8 percent in April last year, the statistics bureau said.

The size of the labor force increased to 37.8 million.

The Labor Department recently said more than 16 million of the country's workforce were either "self-employed" or working in the "informal sector," which includes people working as pedicab drivers or in family-run shops.



BSP: April remittances up 2.2%



Reuters
First Posted 16:56:00 06/15/2009

Filed Under: Remittances, Overseas Employment, Economy and Business and Finance, Economic Indicators


MANILA, Philippines--Remittances from overseas Filipino workers, a key pillar of the country’s economy, reached $1.442 billion in April, up 2.2 percent from a year ago, the central bank said on Monday.

The inflows in April were slightly lower than the record $1.47 billion in March when remittances grew by an annual 3.1 percent.

Inflows for the first four months of the year climbed 2.6 percent from the same period of 2008.

The central bank expects remittances to stay flat this year from 2008's $16.4 billion total.