THE number of employed Filipinos increased in April this year and the government remains committed to implementing reforms that will create more high-quality jobs.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on June 6 that the number of employed Filipinos went up to 48.67 million in April this year from 48.35 million in the same month in 2024.
In a briefing, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the employment rate during the month was at 95.9 percent.
Industries with the largest increase in employment include administrative and support service activities, public administration and defense, agriculture and forestry, construction, and education.
The underemployment rate settled at 14.6 percent translating to 7.09 million employed individuals who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work in April 2025.
The unemployment rate meanwhile was at 4.1 percent, slightly higher than the 4 percent recorded in April last year.
The number of unemployed Filipinos was recorded at 2.06 million.
“Despite the slight uptick in unemployment, the Philippine labor market continues to demonstrate resilience amid global headwinds,” Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) officer in charge and Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie Edillon said in a statement.
“We remain on track to meet our target unemployment range of 4.4 to 4.7 percent set under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028,” she added.
Edillon said the rollout of the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) Plan and the entry of new investments would help further improve the country’s labor force in the coming months.
Government initiatives to improve the employability of jobseekers and workers, include the enhancement of the Technical, Vocational and Livelihood track in the Senior High School, Government Internship Program for the new graduates, and the skills training programs being provided using various modalities. (PNA)
