THE number of Filipinos without jobs or livelihoods decreased for the second straight month in June this year, receding below two million, according to the results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Labor Force Survey.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, August 6, PSA Deputy National Statistician Divina Gracia del Prado reported that unemployed persons, ages 15 and above, declined to 1.95 million from 2.03 million in May 2025.
Year-on-year, jobless individuals grew from 1.62 million in June 2024.
As a percentage of 52.42 million participants in the labor force who are actively looking for labor opportunities during the period, the number of jobless persons translated to an unemployment rate of 3.7%, down from 3.9% month-on-month.
This means 37 in 1,000 individuals do not have jobs or livelihoods during the period.
Meanwhile, employed persons in June 2025 grew to 50.47 million from 50.29 million in May 2025 and 50.28 million in June 2024.
As a percentage of labor force participants, the employment rate stood at 96.3% higher than the 96.1% seen in the prior month but slightly lower compared to 96.9% in the same month last year.
The Services sector accounted for the highest share in the total of employed individuals in June 2025 at 61.4%, followed by Agriculture and Industry at 20.9% and 17.7%, respectively.
In terms of month-on-month increase in employed persons in June versus May 2025, the top five sub-sectors were the following:
* Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles — 908,000
* Fishing and aquaculture — 428,000
* Construction — 292,000
* Financial and insurance activities — 248,000
* Human health and social work activities — 164,000
The top five sub-sectors with the largest drop in employed persons in June versus the prior month were as follows:
* Accommodation and food service activities — 562,000
* Agriculture and forestry — 480,000
* Public administration and defense; compulsory social security — 261,000
* Education — 255,000
* Arts, entertainment and recreation — 214,000
Wage and salary workers
The PSA also reported that wage and salary workers accounted for 63% of the total employed persons in June 2025, followed by self-employed without any paid employee at 27.1%, unpaid family workers at 8%, and employers in their own family-operated farm or business at 1.9%.
Among wage and salary workers, the share of those employed in private establishments was the highest at 78.6% and 49.5% of the total employed individuals during the month.
This was followed by those employed in government or government-controlled corporations with a share of 13.5% of the wage and salary workers or 8.5% of the total number of employed persons during the period.
Underemployed individuals — those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work — stood at 5.76 million or 11.4% of the 50.47 million employed persons in June.
The underemployment rate declined from 13.1% in May 2025 and 12.1% in June 2024. (GMA Integrated News)
