MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Philippines is creating more jobs but too many skilled people are still unable to find work, economic planning minister Cayetano Paderanga said Thursday.

Unemployment eased to 6.9 percent in July as an improving economy opened up more jobs, mostly in the farm sector, the government reported a day earlier.

"While the Philippine economy has shown relative improvements in the labour sector in July 2010, the quality of employment remains a concern," Paderanga said in a statement.

Employment in the farm sector grew 3.1 percent in July, accounting for a third of all those employed even though it contributes less than a fifth of the country's economic output.

About a million Filipinos leave the country every year to work abroad, government data show.

Paderanga said the government should pursue policies that would boost investment, improve productiveness of workers and raise per capita income in a country where one in three people are considered poor.

"This in turn will spur the productive sectors of the economy and encourage the generation of more stable-paying employment opportunities," he said.

He added that the government should put in place policies to reduce number of people who are educated but unemployed. --AFP