By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter

The Philippines’ unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in August, reflecting stronger hiring momentum as the labor market recovered from midyear slack.

The number of jobless Filipinos fell to 2.03 million from 2.59 million in July and 2.07 million a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Wednesday.

The employment rate improved to 96.1% from 94.7% in July, with total employed persons rising to 50.1 million. The jobless rate was 4% a year earlier and 5.3% in July.

The labor force participation rate climbed to 65.1% from 60.7% in July, equivalent to 52.13 million Filipinos aged 15 and older either working or seeking work.

On average, employees worked 41 hours a week, up from 40.7 hours in August last year.

The service sector remained the country’s biggest employer, accounting for 61.5% of total jobs, followed by agriculture at 20.4% and industry at 18.1%. Wholesale and retail trade, agriculture and forestry, and construction were the top employing subsectors.

Underemployment eased to 10.7% from 14.8% in July, with 5.38 million workers saying they wanted more hours or an additional job. Of the underemployed workers in August, 62.4% worked less than 40 hours a week, while 37.6% worked 40 hours or more a week.

Youth employment also improved, with the employment rate among those aged 15 to 24 rising to 88.3% from 81.9% in July, the local statistics agency said