ILOILO City – More young people in Western Visayas worked in 2025, but a sharp increase in underemployment has raised concerns about the quality of those jobs, with the number of young workers seeking additional work or better-paying opportunities surging from 19,000 to 34,000 in just one year.
Preliminary results of the 2025 Labor Force Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region 6 showed that the youth employment rate rose to 88.3 percent from 87.1 percent in 2024, equivalent to 224,000 employed individuals aged 15 to 24, up from 219,000 a year earlier.
Despite the employment gains, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the region continues to face challenges related to job mismatch and underemployment among young workers.
“The number of employed people in Western Visayas increased from 2024; however, the unemployment situation deserves closer attention,” said Maria Alessandra Ivy Therese Areño, Administrative Assistant III of DOLE Region 6.
Underemployment refers to workers who have jobs but are seeking additional hours of work or better employment opportunities because their current earnings are insufficient or their skills are not fully utilized.
The region also recorded a slight increase in the number of youth not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET), which reached 13.2 percent or about 111,000 individuals in 2025, compared with 13 percent or 110,000 in 2024.
More alarming, however, was the rise in underemployment, which climbed to 15.2 percent in 2025 from 8.5 percent in 2024. The number of underemployed youth workers increased to about 34,000 from 19,000 a year earlier.
Areño said the figures suggest that while more jobs are being created, suitable employment opportunities are not keeping pace with the growing labor force.
“The rise in underemployment suggests that while we are generating more jobs, the labor market is expanding faster than the availability of suitable employment opportunities,” she said.
She added that increasing competition for jobs is making it more difficult for fresh graduates and first-time job seekers to find positions that match their qualifications and career aspirations.
“This reflects a growing trend where new entrants into the workforce are affecting the overall dynamics of job availability,” Areño explained.
To address the problem, DOLE-6 is strengthening employment facilitation programs and expanding efforts to reduce persistent skills mismatch in the labor market.
Among the agency’s key interventions are the Government Internship Program (GIP), which provides three- to six-month paid internships in government agencies for qualified young graduates, and the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), which offers temporary jobs to underprivileged students, out-of-school youth and dependents of displaced workers.
“Thanks to the concerted efforts of the department, we have achieved a notable increase in the number of beneficiaries under key initiatives,” Areño said.
She also reported significant gains in labor market information and job-search assistance services compared with 2024.
“As with DOLE, our thrust is now to look at how we could mitigate the perennial existence of job skill mismatches. Hence, we are embarking on strengthening our networks in the delivery of employment facilitation services, highlighting the career development of support programs,” she said.
Areño stressed the need to further enhance employment programs to improve not only employment levels but also job quality for young workers.
“Our indicator for the employment rate is the increase in total beneficiaries hired as employees regardless of sector, private or public,” she added.
As Western Visayas records higher youth employment, labor officials said addressing underemployment and bridging the gap between workforce skills and industry needs will be crucial to ensuring that job growth translates into meaningful and sustainable opportunities for the region’s young workers./PN