The number of unemployed Filipinos declined to 2.03 million in August, from 2.59 million in July, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Wednesday.
That was equivalent to a jobless rate of 3.9 percent, down from 5.3 percent in the previous month.
Meanwhile, 5.38 million employed individuals looked for more jobs or longer working hours to augment their income in August, down from 6.8 million before.
That yielded an underemployment rate of 10.7 percent, easing from 14.8 percent in July.
The services sector accounted for the largest share of total employment at 61.5 percent, followed by agriculture with 20.4 percent and industry at 18.1 percent.
The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons were the following:
Construction (540,000)
Fishing and aquaculture (448,000)
Administrative and support service activities (307,000)
Agriculture and forestry (300,000)
Other service activities (239,000).