The ranks of employed Filipinos who wanted additional work (i.e. wanted more hours of work, additional job, or a new job with longer working hours) climbed by over half a million to 7.10 million in July from 6.54 million tallied in July last year. This translated to an underemployment rate — the share of those Filipinos who wanted additional work to the total employed population — of 15.9% that month from 13.8% in July 2022. It was the highest share in 20 months. Twelve out of 17 regions saw their respective underemployment rates worsened annually in July. Eastern Visayas led the largest increase with 9.3 percentage points (ppts) to 25.3%. It was followed by Zamboanga Peninsula (up 9 ppt), Cagayan Valley (up 8.7 ppt), and Davao Region (up 6.1 ppt).
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