BY CHINO S. LEYCO
The Philippines’ unemployment rate declined in July as local economy slowly reopens in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) put the Filipinos’ jobless rate at 10 percent in July, an improvement from the record high of 17.7 percent seen in the midst of the longest and most stringent lockdown in the world.
Today’s PSA report showed 4.6 million unemployed Filipinos, a reduction of 37 percent compared with 7.3 million in April.
The economy fell into a recession this year after its gross domestic product contracted by a record 16.5 percent in the second quarter.
The coronavirus-induced lockdown measures to prevent further contamination from March to June had halted 75 percent of economic activities and shed millions of jobs.
