In the second quarter, the jobless rate rose for both residents (3.0 percent from 2.8 percent in the March quarter) and citizens (3.1 percent from 3.0 percent).
Total employment increased by 7,100, far higher than an increase of 400 in the preceding quarter and a reversal from the contraction observed in the same period a year ago (-7,900). Services continued to add workers (7,800 excluding foreign domestic workers/FDWs), particularly in sectors such as transportation & storage, information & communications, community, social & personal services, professional services and financial & insurance. On the other hand, employment in construction contracted by 600, with private sector construction continuing to be weak. Meantime, employment in manufacturing was largely unchanged (-100), following consecutive declines since fourth quarter 2014.
Some 2,500 workers were laid off, higher than that in the prior quarter (2,320) and 3,640 a year ago. The slight rise over the second quarter 2018 reflected on-going restructuring and reorganisation, and occurred after retrenchments trended down from the fourth quarter of 2016.