RP's jobless rate rises to 7.7% in January 2009

Reuters | The Philippines’ jobless rate climbed to 7.7 percent in January from 6.8 percent in October, the statistics office said on Tuesday, with hundreds of jobs lost in the three-month since October as the financial crisis squeezed the economy.
The jobless rate was at 7.4 percent in January 2008.
The country has one of the highest unemployment rates in Southeast Asia and about a third of its 90-million population is considered poor.
The percentage of underemployed, or those who have jobs but want to work more, also rose to 18.2 percent of total employed in in January from 17.5 percent in October.
Of the 34.3 million people employed in January, more than half, or 51.2 percent, worked in services. Farming was the second biggest employer with 34.6 percent, with the rest working in the industry.