Jobless Filipinos increased slightly to 2.26M in December 2025 —PSA

The number of Filipinos without jobs or livelihoods saw a slight increase in December 2025, according to the results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Labor Force Survey.

At a press briefing on Friday, National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa reported that jobless individuals, ages 15 and above, rose to 2.26 million from 2.25 million in November 2025.

This was also higher than the 1.63 million unemployed recorded in December 2024.

As a percentage of 51.69 million participants in the labor force, who are actively looking for labor opportunities during the period, the number of jobless persons translated to an unemployment rate of 4.4%, same rate seen in November 2025 and higher compared to 3.1% in December 2024.

This means 44 in 1,000 individuals do not have jobs or livelihoods during the period.

The number of employed, meanwhile, grew slightly to 49.43 million from 49.26 million in November 2025 but declined from 50.19 million in December 2024.

The employment rate for December 2025 stood at 95.6%, same as November 2025 and lower than 96.9% in December 2024.

PSA data showed services sector accounted for the lion’s share of total employed persons at 62.4%. This was followed by agriculture at 20.7% and industry at 16.9%.

By sub-sector, the top three with the highest employment were wholesale and retail Trade at 20.5%, agriculture and forestry at 18.8%, and construction at 9.7%.

The top five sub-sectors with the largest month-on-month increases were the following:

• Agriculture and forestry - up 572,000
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security - up 211,000
• Accommodation and food service activities -  up 135,000
• Professional, scientific, and technical activities - up 84,000
• Administrative and support service activities - up 68,000

On the other hand, the top five sub-sectors with the highest drop in employed persons month-on-month were as follows:

• Manufacturing -  down 424,000);
• Fishing and aquaculture - down 182,000
• Transportation and storage - down 88,000
• Human health and social work activities - down 71,000
• Other service activities - down 67,000

In terms of year-on-year increases, the top five sub-sectors were the following: 

• Administrative and support service activities - up 385,000
• Accommodation and food service activities - up 280,000
• Education - up 241,000
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security - 83,000
• Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply - up 48,000

The top five sub-sectors with the largest year-on-year drop in employed persons were as follows:

• Construction - down 550,000
• Transportation and storage - down 258,000
• Fishing and aquaculture - down 258,000
• Manufacturing - down 255,000
• Agriculture and Forestry - 167,000

Wage and salary workers comprised 64.2% of the workforce in December 2025, followed by self-employed without any paid employee at 27.4% unpaid family workers at 6.9%, and employers in their own family-operated farm or business at 1.5%.

Moreover, among wage and salary workers, those employed in the private sector composed the highest share of 77.7% of the total wage and salary workers as well as 49.9% of the total number of employed persons.

This was followed by those employed in government or government-controlled corporations with a share of 15.2% of the wage and salary workers and 9.8% of the total number of employed persons.

Employment creation

In a separate statement, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said the Philippine government commits to pursue efforts to improve the labor market environment to generate quality jobs amid global and domestic issues.

“As we make 2026 a rally point to revitalize PDP implementation, we will prioritize employment creation by restoring consumer and business confidence, reduce the cost of doing business, encourage innovation, and expand training and reskilling opportunities,” said DEPDev Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon, the agency’s officer-in-charge while Secretary Arsenio Balisacan is on official travel.

Edillon added that the government would resume and accelerate the completion of delayed infrastructure projects and prioritize the implementation of high-impact programs, activities, and projects in crucial sectors.

Underemployment, on the other hand, fell to 8% from 10.4% in November 2025 and 10.9% in December 2024.

This was the lowest recorded underemployment rate since April 2005.

In terms of magnitude, 3.39 million of the 49.43 million employed persons were underemployed or expressed desire for additional hours of work, have an additional job, or have a new job with longer hours of work.

“The decline in underemployment allows workers to participate in the upskilling and reskilling initiatives to be rolled out by the government. This will help Filipino workers to remain competitive in today’s dynamic business environment. We will continue to work closely with Congress to institute reforms to make our labor market environment (firms, workforce, future jobseekers, training institutions, regulators) dynamic and responsive to the evolving world of work,” said Edillon.

The DEPDev official added that the government will facilitate the adoption of digital technologies to strengthen the capacity of high-productivity sectors, including the IT-BPM and advanced manufacturing sectors to ensure sustainable job growth.

“If we can expand global capability centers and develop specialized digital services, we can generate high-value jobs and enhance the country’s competitive position in the global market,” said Edillon.

She said that supply-side measures will continue to be prioritized to support an inclusive, efficient, and dynamic labor market environment, including the implementation of the Enterprise-Based Education and Training Framework Act and other skills development initiatives identified in the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan 2025-2034 and the recently launched National Education and Workforce Development Plan 2026–2035. —AOL/ VAL, GMA Integrated News