Unemployment rate in the Philippines climbed to 4.1 percent in April 2025 from 4.0 percent a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.
The jobless rate was also higher than the 3.9 percent recorded in March, it said.
Despite the slight uptick in unemployment, the Philippine labor market continues to demonstrate resilience amid global headwinds, Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev) officer-in-charge and Undersecretary for policy and planning Rosemarie Edillon said in a statement.
“We remain on track to meet our target unemployment range of 4.4 to 4.7 percent set under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028,” she said.
Edillon said the rollout of the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) Plan and the entry of new investments would help further improve the country’s labor force in the coming months.
Data showed that the number of unemployed persons in April 2025 stood at 2.06 million, up from 2.04 million in April 2024, but lower than the 2.16 million in January 2025, the PSA said.
The underemployment rate, which measures those working but still looking for more hours, was estimated at 14.6 percent in April 2025, unchanged from April 2024, but higher than 13.4 percent in March.
About 7.09 million of the 48.67 million employed Filipinos expressed a desire for additional work hours, an additional job, or a new job with longer hours in April 2025, according to the PSA.
The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in April 2025 was estimated at 63.7 percent, lower than 64.1 percent in April 2024. This translates to 50.74 million Filipinos aged 15 and over in the labor force, compared with 50.40 million in April 2024 and 50.65 million in January 2025.
Services continued to be the largest sector for employed persons, accounting for 61.9 percent of the total in April 2025. The agriculture and industry sectors comprised 20.6 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively.
Wage and salary workers made up the largest share of employed persons at 63.2 percent. This was followed by self-employed persons without paid employees (28.0 percent), unpaid family workers (6.8 percent), and employers in their own family-operated farm or business (2.0 percent).
Among wage and salary workers, those employed in private establishments had the highest share at 78.1 percent of all wage and salary workers, or 49.3 percent of total employed persons. Government or government-controlled corporations accounted for 15.0 percent of wage and salary workers, or 9.5 percent of total employed persons.
The DEPDev cites several government initiatives to improve the employability of jobseekers and workers, including the enhancement of the technical, vocational and livelihood track in the senior high school, government internship program for the new graduates and the skills training programs being provided using various modalities.
“Leveraging the role of the private sector in training and skills development allows the workforce to benefit from industry expertise. Under the Enterprise-Based Education and Training Framework, the government, in partnership with the private sector, will co-develop programs that focus on digital, technical, and soft skills. This will allow learners to develop the foundational skills required for emerging industries,” Edillon said.
To ensure that the workers remain agile, Edillon said the development and promotion of a national policy for lifelong learning must be prioritized.
Edillon said the government would continue promoting measures that improve the productivity of domestic industries, particularly those that generate higher-quality jobs to enhance the resilience of the labor market amid external uncertainties.
“Attracting more investments to generate higher-quality and better-paying jobs, particularly in manufacturing and higher-value-added services, and expanding into new markets is essential to broadening our economy and opening up more job opportunities for Filipino workers,” she said.