MANILA, Philippines — The country's labor market improved as the number of jobless Filipinos hit a six-month low in June, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.

The country's unemployment rate dropped to 3.1 percent in June from 4.1 percent in May and 4.5 percent in the same month last year.

This snapped the three straight months of pick up in May and the lowest rate recorded since December last year at 3.1 percent.

This translates to 1.62 million unemployed Filipinos, 490,000 less than May's figure of 2.11 million and June 2023's 2.33 million, reflecting a year-on-year drop of 710,000 unemployed individuals.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — rose to 12.1 percent, from 9.9 percent in May and 12.0 percent in June 2023.

The number of underemployment was equivalent to 6.08 million. These are people "who have expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with long hours of work."

The PSA saw an improvement in the employment rate, which increased to 96.9 percent from 95.9 percent in May and 95.5 percent in the same month last year.

The number of individuals with jobs reached 50.28 million, higher than last year's 48.84 million and May's 48.87 million.

The services sector continued to dominate the labor market in June in terms of the number of employed persons with a share of 58.7 percent.

The country's Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in June was registered at 66.0 percent, higher than May's 64.8 percent but slightly lower than June 2023 66.1 percent.