The Philippines' unemployment rate edged up slightly in the first quarter of 2011, according to the National Statistics Office. The number of unemployed people stood at 2.9m at end-January, equivalent to 7.4% of the 39.2m-strong labour force, representing only a small increase from the first quarter of 2010, when 2.8m people were jobless. The unemployment rate was highest in the capital, Manila, at 12%. Unemployment was lowest in the Cagayan Valley, in the north-east of the main island of Luzon, and in the Zamboanga Peninsula, on the southern island of Mindanao, at 3% in both regions. For 2010 as a whole the unemployment rate averaged 7.3%, down slightly from 7.5% in 2010, representing the highest annual rate of joblessness since 2006. Unemployment rose to a high of 8% in the second quarter of 2010, but fell to 6.9% in the third quarter before rising to 7.1% in the fourth quarter. The Philippines does not publish seasonally adjusted unemployment figures and so year-on-year changes in joblessness are the most reliable indication of the state of the labour market. The number of underemployed people, meaning those working less than 40 hours per week, was more or less stable in the first quarter of 2011, at 7.1m, equivalent to 19.4% of the labour force. Services remained the country's main employer, accounting for 52.5% of the total number of employed in January. Most of those employed by the service sector worked in wholesale and retail trade. In addition, agriculture accounted for 32.9% of the total number of employed, while the remaining 14.5% were employed in industry, mostly in manufacturing.