MANILA - THE number of people out of work in the Philippines was 180,000 higher in January than a year earlier, taking the unemployment rate from 7.4 to 7.7 per cent, officials said on Tuesday.

A total of 2.855 million were out of work in January compared to 2.675 million a year ago, the government data showed.

The National Statistics Office did not explain the rise but a series of high profile factory closures may have contributed to the increase.

Labour officials have said at least 39,000 Filipinos lost their jobs since October last year as factories and companies laid off workers amid the deepening global financial crisis.

Manila and the surrounding provinces, which together account for more than half the country's economic output, reported a jobless rate of 14.0 per cent.

Of those who were employed, 36.3 per cent only had part-time work of less than 40 hours a week.

The economy grew by 4.6 per cent for the whole of 2008, slowing from 7.2 per cent for 2007.

About 51.2 per cent of those employed worked in the services sector while agricultural workers made up 34.6 per cent of the total with only 14.2 per cent in the industrial sector.

Unskilled workers registered the largest group at 31.9 per cent of the employed in January 2009. Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen were the second largest group, accounting for 17.3 per cent of the total. -- AFP