The number of jobless Filipinos grew for the third straight month

The number of jobless Filipinos grew for the third straight month in May, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.

The country's jobless rate slightly increased to 4.1 percent in May from 4.0 percent in April. This is lower than the 4.3 percent in the same month last year.

This translates to 2.11 million unemployed Filipinos, 70,000 more than April's figure of 2.04 million.

This is the highest increase since January 2024 when the jobless rate was 4.5 percent.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — was down to 9.9 percent from 14.6 percent in April and 11.7 percent in the same month last year.

The number of underemployed was equivalent to 4.82 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 said the number of individuals with jobs reached 48.87 million, higher than last year's 48.26 million and April's 48.36 million.

The services sector hired the most number of workers in May for a share of 61.1 percent in the labor market.

The country's Labor Force Participation Rate in May was 64.8 percent, higher than April's 64.1 percent.

Source: Manila Times

Philippines places 92nd and 100th in freedom and prosperity lists

We are living in turbulent times, and 2024 is without doubt a crucial year. A total of sixty-four countries and almost half of the population of the world will hold national elections this year. Their results will determine the future path for freedom and prosperity in years to come.

This report presents the annual update of our indexes, which portray a clear picture of the situation of the world during this decisive year. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the trends of freedom, prosperity, and their respective components during the last decade uncovers several striking facts that can help us understand how we got to this critical juncture.

The Philippines ranked 92nd and 100th out of 164 countries in the 2024 edition of the Freedom and Prosperity Indexes published by US-based think tank Atlantic Council. Out of possible 100 points, the country scored 62.5 in the freedom index (low freedom) and 60.4 in the prosperity index (low prosperity).

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Source: Business World and Atlantic Council

Vienna secures its position as the world’s most liveable city

Vienna has been named the world’s most liveable city for the third year running, according to the results of EIU’s latest annual Global Liveability Index.

The index ranks the liveability of 173 cities across five key categories, including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. This year’s survey saw a rise in average scores, driven by gains in healthcare and education across developing countries, although this has been largely offset by declines in scores for several top-tier cities.

Western Europe has retained its position as the most liveable region in the world, with Copenhagen, Zurich and Geneva once again making it to the top ten. The 30 western European cities in this year’s ranking reported an impressive average score of 92 out of 100. However, the region has seen the biggest fall in score, owing to a deterioration in the stability category, which was also the biggest declining factor in all five categories in the index globally. 

Four Asia-Pacific cities—Melbourne and Sydney (Australia), Osaka (Japan) and Auckland (New Zealand) are among this year’s top ten most liveable cities in the world. The Australasian cities continue to rank within the top 20. This time, however, we have downgraded overall infrastructure scores for Australia, owing to an ongoing housing crisis that has led to an all-time low availability of rental properties in many of the cities.

Cities in the Middle East and North Africa present a mixed bag. Israel’s conflict with Hamas has led to Tel Aviv being the biggest faller down the ranks, dropping by 20 places to the 112th place. While the conflict has dealt a blow to the region’s stability scores, strong gains in education and healthcare in many of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have pushed up the region’s overall liveability. The biggest increase in scores was registered by the cities in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar). Despite improvements, the region is also home to the least liveable cities—Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli (Libya) and Damascus (Syria).

An acute housing crisis has pulled down infrastructure scores for Canada, with Toronto registering the biggest decline among the Canadian cities, and dropping out of our list of the top ten most liveable cities to the 12th position, leaving Calgary and Vancouver as the only two North American cities in the top ten.

Meanwhile, the largest US cities, notably Los Angeles and New York, are ranked at 58th and 70th respectively. However, all 25 of the region’s cities in the index continue to attain the highest tier of liveability (above 80). The region boasts a world-leading average education score and compares favourably with western Europe in terms of infrastructure and culture.

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Source: Economist Intelligence