Photo credit: PESO Catanduanes

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s April 2025 Labor Force Survey offers a detailed snapshot of the country’s employment landscape, revealing a slight uptick in the unemployment rate and a marginal dip in employment, compared to figures from the previous year.

Unemployment stood at 4.1 percent in April 2025, a notch higher than the 4.0 percent recorded in April 2024. This translates to about 2.06 million Filipinos without work during the period, slightly above the 2.04 million jobless a year earlier. However, the latest figure is an improvement from January 2025, which posted a 4.3 percent unemployment rate or 2.16 million unemployed persons.

Meanwhile, the employment rate was recorded at 95.9 percent—just below the 96.0 percent from April 2024. In terms of headcount, the country had 48.67 million employed individuals in April 2025, higher than both April 2024’s 48.35 million and January 2025’s 48.49 million.

Labor force participation dropped slightly to 63.7 percent in April 2025, from 64.1 percent in the same month last year. This percentage represents 50.74 million Filipinos aged 15 and over who were either working or actively looking for work, compared to 50.40 million in April 2024.

Workers put in an average of 39.9 hours per week in April 2025, a slight decline from 40.5 hours in April 2024. Around 65,000 employed individuals reported working exactly one hour that week, a small but notable increase from the 53,000 recorded in April 2024.

Underemployment remained a concern. The rate stood at 14.6 percent, unchanged from the same period last year but up from 13.3 percent in January 2025. This means that around 7.09 million employed individuals still wanted either more hours or better job opportunities.

The services sector continued to dominate the employment landscape, accounting for 61.9 percent of total employment. Agriculture followed with 20.6 percent, and industry made up the remaining 17.5 percent. Among sub-sectors, administrative and support services led in employment gains, followed by public administration, agriculture and forestry, construction, and education.

On the other hand, manufacturing suffered the largest job losses year-on-year, shedding 410,000 jobs. Other declines were seen in service activities, accommodation and food services, arts and entertainment, and wholesale and retail trade.

Quarter-on-quarter data showed strong job gains in administrative services, public administration, construction, retail trade, and fishing. However, agriculture and forestry saw a significant decline in employment, along with other service-based industries and financial services.

Wage and salary workers made up the majority of the employed population, accounting for 63.2 percent. Of this group, 78.1 percent worked in private establishments, while 15.0 percent were employed in government or government-owned corporations.

Regionally, the Cordillera Administrative Region reported the highest employment rate at 97.8 percent, while Central Visayas recorded the lowest at 94.5 percent.

Youth labor force participation also declined to 31.8 percent from 32.6 percent the previous year. However, youth underemployment and the percentage of those not in education, employment, or training (NEET) both saw slight improvements, pointing to a more stable labor outlook for the younger segment of the population.

While the figures from April 2025 show mostly steady labor market conditions, the modest increases in unemployment and underemployment suggest that more work remains to ensure inclusive and quality job opportunities, especially across vulnerable sectors.