A total of 1.94 million Filipinos are without a job, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Tuesday, April 8.
This puts the country’s unemployment rate at 3.8 percent, a slight increase from February 2024’s 3.5 percent, but an improvement from January 2025’s 4.3 percent.
The employment rate stood at 96.2 percent in February 2025, representing 49.15 million employed individuals. While this is slightly lower than February 2024’s 96.5 percent, it's higher than January 2025’s 95.7 percent.
Underemployment also dropped, from 13.3 percent in January to 10.1 percent in February 2025.
This means around 4.96 million workers are seeking additional hours or a second job.
The services sector continued to lead in employment, absorbing 61.6 percent of the workforce.
Agriculture followed with 20.1 percent, and industry at 18.3 percent.
Subsectors with the biggest year-on-year employment gains included:
- Accommodation and food service: +377,000
- Fishing and aquaculture: +365,000
- Public administration and defense: +330,000
- Construction: +258,000
- Other services: +232,000
Month-on-month, wholesale and retail trade saw the largest gain with 620,000 additional workers. Construction added 434,000, manufacturing 225,000, and public administration and defense 191,000.
On the downside, the biggest annual losses were in:
- Agriculture and forestry: -949,000
- Administrative and support services: -201,000
- Transportation and storage: -158,000
- Retail trade: -77,000
- Professional, scientific, and technical activities: -68,000
Month-to-month, agriculture and forestry posted the steepest drop at 520,000 fewer workers, followed by administrative services (-308,000) and transportation (-176,000).
Despite the slight rise in unemployment, the data shows signs of improving labor conditions, especially with reduced underemployment and rising jobs in key sectors.
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