MANILA (UPDATE) — More Filipinos found jobs and found higher quality jobs in February as the unemployment and underemployment rates fell. 

The unemployment rate in the Philippines fell to 3.8 percent in February, from 4.3 percent the month before, the state statistics bureau said Tuesday. 

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said there were 1.94 million unemployed Filipinos last month, down from the 2.16 million seen in January. The PSA said there were 51.09 million Filipinos in the labor force in February.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate also dipped to 10.1 percent from 13.3 percent in January. 

The PSA defines underemployment as workers who already have jobs but are looking for extra jobs or work hours. A high underemployment rate is usually seen as an indicator that the jobs available are of low quality.  

Year-on-year, the accommodation and food service activities sector added the most number of jobs at 377,000, followed by fishing and aquaculture at 365,000.  National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said the increase in jobs in the accommodation and food service sector is a sign that consumption is growing in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, he noted that more fishermen were able to go to work in January because of the good weather. Other sectors that contributed to job growth include public administration and defense and compulsory social security (330,000), construction (258,000), and other service activities (232,000). 

Meanwhile, agriculture and forestry saw the largest annual drop in job numbers at 949,000. This was followed by administrative and support service activities at 201,000, and transportation and storage at 158,000. 

Mapa noted there were 41,000 additional jobs in the “activities of political organizations” subsector in February. The official said this trend may probably continue until May.

“But ‘di naman siya substantial, may dagdag pero hindi talaga ganoon kalaki,” he said. 

“Of course may mga core areas pa rin tayo, like yung ating services sector, wholesale and retail trade, particularly yung sa food and accommodation service activities, so mas malaki doon yung increase.” 

“While merong increases because of the elections season, there are still other areas wherein it also contributed relatively large number of employed persons,” he noted. 

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said government will continue  to secure more investments that will help give Filipinos more jobs. 

“The continued rollout and implementation of high-impact infrastructure flagship projects, particularly in energy, transport, and digital connectivity, will boost domestic employment and business activity,” he said.