Philippines' jobless rate rises to 4.1 per cent in April
MANILA (Xinhua): The Philippines' unemployment rate in April rose to 4.1 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.
PSA Chief Dennis Mapa told a press conference that an estimated 2.06 million Filipinos were out of work in April this year, higher than the number of unemployed people in April 2024 at 2.04 million.
Despite the slight uptick in unemployment, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development officer in charge and Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie Edillon said in a statement that the Philippine labor market continues to demonstrate resilience amid global headwinds.
"We remain on track to meet our target unemployment range of 4.4 to 4.7 percent set under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028," she said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines' gross international reserves rose slightly to US$105.5 billion at the end of May from US$105.3 billion a month earlier, the central bank said on Friday, citing preliminary data.
The forex reserves represent an external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, which the central bank said was robust. - Xinhua
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
11 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Cadillac team have 'limitless ambition' and plenty of money
SILVERSTONE, England: Cadillac principal Graeme Lowdon says Formula One's newest team have limitless ambition, and plenty of funds, but every expectation of being last when they debut next season. The General Motors brand secured approval in March, after a 764-day entry process, to become the sport's 11th team and are racing against time to be ready. Testing starts in Barcelona on January 26, with free practice for the 2026 season-opener in Melbourne on March 6. No drivers are signed yet, despite regular reports of familiar names set to join and the usual suspects in the frame, but the focus is on more fundamental issues. A recent tour of the team's Silverstone facility revealed a quiet sense of purpose, and the deep pockets behind the operation. "You will not see this team over-promising in any way," Lowdon told reporters. "But we do want to convey the fact that the ambitions are really limitless, as they should be." The team are also backed by TWG Global, whose CEO Mark Walter has an estimated net worth of $12.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Walter's ownership interests include MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, Premier League soccer side Chelsea and a soon to be acquired majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball franchise. LONG ROAD Despite that, there is a long road ahead for a team that will start with Ferrari engines but plan to make their own eventually. Lowdon, whose US-owned rivals Haas are in their 10th season, said he presents the situation to shareholders with a question: "Can you imagine if you've owned a Formula One team for 10 years and then another team rocks up and beats you? You would be apoplectic. "You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last. Otherwise, what's gone wrong somewhere else? ... We're trying to be as competitive as we possibly can but We're realistic. We know how difficult it is. "We're happy with our progress, but we just don't know. Other than if we beat someone then someone's going to be angry." Cadillac reckon on having 600 people by next season, many recruited from rival teams, and say they are already two thirds of the way there and no longer even the smallest outfit. Although approval came only in March, preparations started long before. Wind tunnel work has been ongoing since the middle of last year and the first car floor was delivered in January. Roll hoop testing took place in May and a prototype steering wheel was also ready by then. "We've already issued somewhere in the region of 6,000 drawings. We've made 10,000 components already while we've been kind of quiet," said Lowdon. "If you just wait until you get the entry and then start doing everything that we've been doing, you time out. It becomes an impossible task." Cadillac have sites on two continents – a headquarters under construction in Indianapolis, manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Michigan and a design and logistics base at Silverstone. Lowdon, a previous CEO of the defunct Virgin and Marussia teams, said a different management approach was needed and he had "leaned heavily" on the structure used by the U.S. space programme in the 1960s and 70s. "We need an engineer here (in Britain) talking to an engineer in Charlotte and another one in Warren, Michigan, or eventually in Fishers (Indiana). So we've looked to have a very, very flat management structure," he said.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Cambodia sees 50% rise in Chinese tourist arrivals in Jan-May period
People sit in tourist boats sailing along the Mekong river in front of the Royal Palace on November 19, 2021. Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia's economy. - AFP PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has recorded a 50 per cent increase in the number of Chinese tourists in the first five months of 2025, said the Ministry of Tourism's latest report released on Tuesday (July 1). A total of 488,973 Chinese visitors traveled to the South-East Asian country during the January-May period of this year, up 50 per cent from 326,003 over the same period last year. The number of Chinese tourists accounted for 16.6 per cent of the total 2.95 million international tourist arrivals to Cambodia, the report said, adding that China was the third-largest source of foreign holidaymakers to the kingdom after Thailand and Vietnam. "I firmly believe that the Cambodia-China Tourism Year 2025 will surely become an important opportunity to attract more Chinese tourists to Cambodia and deepen tourism and cultural exchanges between the two countries," Cambodian Tourism Minister Huot Hak said in a recent speech. Thourn Sinan, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association Cambodia chapter, said Chinese tourists are crucial for Cambodia's tourism industry. "The current cooperation between Cambodia and China in tourism is promising, with growing numbers of Chinese visitors contributing significantly to our economy," he told Xinhua. Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia's economy, in addition to garments, footwear and travel goods export, agriculture, and construction and real estate. - Xinhua
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Japan says it won't sacrifice farm sector after Trump complains about rice
This photo taken on June 4, 2025 shows a farmer preparing a transplanter vehicle before planting rice seedlings at a farm in the town of Sanjo, Niigata prefecture in northern Japan. Japan has been grappling with a doubling in rice prices due partly to a weather-driven poor-quality harvest in 2023 that caused a shortage last year. - AFP TOKYO: Japan will not sacrifice the agricultural sector as part of its tariff negotiations with the United States, its top government spokesperson said on Tuesday (July 1), after President Donald Trump complained that its ally was not importing American rice. Trump wrote in a social media post that Japan's reluctance to import American-grown rice was a sign that countries have become "spoiled with respect to the United States of America." "I have great respect for Japan, they won't take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage," he wrote on Truth Social. Japan has been grappling with a doubling in rice prices due partly to a weather-driven poor-quality harvest in 2023 that caused a shortage last year. The government has released almost its entire stock of emergency rice since March in an effort to bring prices down. "We are not thinking about doing anything that would sacrifice the farm sector," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference. He, as well as farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, declined to comment directly on Trump's post. Koizumi told a separate press conference that his ministry would continue to work with various ministries towards maximising Japan's national interests. Under a "minimum access" agreement within the World Trade Organisation, Japan has an 770,000-tonne tariff-free import quota for rice, of which up to 100,000 tonnes is for staple rice. Beyond this, rice imports are subject to a levy of 341 yen (US$2.37) per kilogramme. To continue in its efforts to lower domestic prices, the government had brought forward a tender for the first 30,000 tonnes of tariff-free staple rice imports earmarked for this year earlier than the usual auction in September. Results of that tender, held on June 27, showed applications for 81,853 tonnes, or nearly three times as much as was auctioned. Of the total tendered, 25,541 tonnes was from the US, followed by 1,500 tonnes from Australia and 708 tonnes from Thailand. - Reuters
