This was up from 7.4 percent in January, the National Statistics Office said in its quarterly employment report.

Manila and the surrounding provinces, which together account for more than half the country’s economic output, had double-digit jobless rates topped by Manila’s 13.8 percent.

Of those who were employed, 35.7 percent only had part-time work of less than 40 hours a week, the office said.

Economic growth eased to 5.2 percent in the three months to March amid rising oil prices, the slowing US economy and the strong peso, which impacted on exports and pushed up inflation.

The economy grew 7.2 percent for the whole of 2007.

Some 49.6 percent of those employed worked in the services sector, 35.5 percent in the agriculture sector and 14.9 percent in industry.

Unskilled workers made up 32.6 percent of those employed, while farmers, forestry workers and fishermen accounted for 17.3 percent.

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