The country’s jobless rate slipped to 3.9% in May 2025, reflecting a modest improvement from April’s 4.1%, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This marks the lowest unemployment figure since the same month last year.
Around 2.03 million Filipinos were unemployed in May, down from 2.11 million during the same period in 2024 and 2.06 million just a month earlier.
Despite the drop in unemployment, underemployment—or the number of workers looking for more hours or better-paying jobs—climbed to 13.1%. While lower than April’s 14.6%, the figure was significantly higher than the 9.9% seen a year ago. A total of 6.6 million employed Filipinos were actively seeking additional work in May.
The labor force participation rate reached 65.8%, its highest in two decades, with over 52.3 million Filipinos aged 15 and above either working or actively looking for jobs. This is a noticeable jump from April’s 63.7% and May 2024’s 64.8%.
Employment also expanded, with 50.29 million Filipinos reported as employed—up by over 1.4 million compared to last year. The services sector continued to dominate, accounting for 61.8% of total jobs, followed by agriculture (21.1%) and industry (17.1%).
Most employed individuals were wage and salary workers, making up nearly 63% of the workforce. Among them, 77.1% worked in private establishments, while 15% were in government or government-owned corporations.
On average, Filipino workers logged 39.8 hours per week—slightly down from the previous year. Meanwhile, youth underemployment stood at 11.5%, showing improvement from April’s 13.4% but still higher than last year’s 10.2%.
