Most recent economic data showed that the Philippine economy may weather the global recession relatively unscathed. The February 2023 issue of The Market Call said that while employment may grow slower in the near term - with the December 2022 level up by 4.3% from the previous month’s 4.2% - “total man-hours (MH) of work slightly increased to 1.98 billion MH from 1.97-B MH in November”. This gain offset the 704,000 drop in total employment to 49 million, a close second to the all-time record level of 49.7 million achieved a month ago. The report cited the decline in unemployment rate last December to 12.6% from the previous month’s 14.4%. The manufacturing sector grew faster last January, with the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) up at 53.5 from 53.1 in the previous month.
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