MANILA – The Philippines recorded a lower unemployment rate of 3.9% in May 2025, as over 1.4 million Filipinos joined the labor force during the survey period—an indication of what officials described as growing confidence in the economy and an increasingly competitive labor market.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the number of jobless Filipinos fell to 2.03 million in May from 2.06 million in April. This is also an improvement from the 4.1% unemployment rate logged in both April 2025 and May 2024.
“Ang unemployment rate ay naitala sa 3.9% o 39 sa kada 1,000 na individual na nasa labor force ang walang trabaho o negosyo nitong Mayo 2025,” said PSA’s Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa in a press briefing.
As joblessness declined, the employment rate climbed to 96.1%, translating to 50.29 million employed Filipinos—higher than the 50.74 million in April and 50.97 million in May last year.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan welcomed the increase in labor participation and its broader economic implications.
“We welcome this development in labor force participation because it indicates a healthy and competitive Philippine labor market,” he said. “Generally, a larger workforce can lead to increased economic output and potentially higher GDP growth, as more people contribute to the economy.”
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro also highlighted President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s commitment to job creation.
“We welcome the increase in employment rate based on the latest PSA report. The Marcos administration is focused on generating more jobs for Filipinos,” Castro said.
The PSA reported that labor force participation rose to 65.8%, up from 64.1% in April. This means that about 52.32 million individuals aged 15 and above were working or actively seeking work in May.
The services sector remained the leading source of employment, accounting for 61.8% of jobs. Agriculture followed with 21.1%, while the industry sector contributed 17.1%.
Subsectors that posted the largest employment increases were wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (+489,000), agriculture and forestry (+469,000), administrative and support services (+371,000), accommodation and food services (+365,000), and other service activities (+175,000).
Wage and salary workers made up the majority of employed individuals at 62.8%, followed by self-employed workers without paid employees at 27.9%. Employers in family-run businesses comprised 1.8%.
Despite the positive indicators, average weekly working hours slightly declined to 39.8 hours in May from 39.9 in April and 40.6 in the same period last year. Around 91,000 employed Filipinos (0.18%) reported working only one hour during the reference week.
Meanwhile, underemployment dropped to 6.60 million or 13.1% in May, down from 7.09 million or 14.6% in April. Youth underemployment also declined to 11.5% from April’s 13.4%, though it remained higher than the 10.2% reported in May 2024./PN
