The unemployment rate in the Philippines dropped to 5.7 percent in April, down from 6.1 percent in the same period last year, a government agency said on Friday.

The data comes from the April 2017 Labor Force Survey (LFS) carried out by the Philippines Statistics Authority, an agency attached to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). 

The survey also showed that the underemployment rate, the proportion of employed persons seeking additional work, reached its lowest in more than 10 years at 16.1 percent. 

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"This is lower by 962,000 workers or 12.9 percent compared with underemployed workers recorded in April last year," NEDA said in a statement.

The need to sustain employment figures, while improving related services, is crucial to meeting the government's key targets in the Philippines Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, NEDA stressed.

NEDA also said that the falling underemployment rate must be sustained together with higher job creation to reduce unemployment to around 3 percent by 2022.

(Source: Xinhua)