Philippines' employment rate improves in May 2025—PSA
The Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that more Filipinos found jobs in May 2025, decreasing the unemployment rate in the country.
According to the latest Labor Force Survey report, the Philippine jobless rate fell to 3.9% in May 2025, down from 4.1% in both April 2025 and May 2024. This translates to 2.03 million unemployed individuals in May 2025, compared to the 2.11 million in May 2024 and 2.06 million in April 2025.
Consequently, the country's employment rate increased to 96.1% from 95.9% in both May 2024 and April 2025. This means that there are now 50.29 million individuals who have a stable source of livelihood, compared to 48.87 million in May 2024 and 48.67 million in the previous month.
The report detailed that the Services sector maintained the highest employment with a share of 61.8% of all employed persons in May 2025, followed by Agriculture at 21.1% and Industry at 17.1%.
By subsector, the top five with the highest annual increase in the number of employed persons are the following:
- Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (489,000);
- Agriculture and forestry (469,000);
- Administrative and support service activities (371,000);
- Accommodation and food service activities (365,000); and
- Other service activities (175,000)
On the other hand, the five subsectors with the highest annual decrease in employed persons are the following:
- Manufacturing (-374,000);
- Construction (-298,000);
- Mining and quarrying (-82,000);
- Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-54,000); and
- Water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities (-50,000).
In a July 8 press conference, PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa highlighted the positive development of the country in line with the results.
"Ang ating datos sa Mayo 2025 ay maganda, marami ang nag-participate sa labor market at marami rin 'yung naging employed," he said.
He added that interventions from both the government and private sectors helped with the increase in employment among Filipinos.
"Of course, we will be tracking whether the increase will continue in the coming months. Itong June ay tapos na 'yung aming survey, pino-process na 'yung datos, so makikita natin 'yung trend in the month of June and July kung tuloy-tuloy ito," Mapa said.
