Working children rise to 868,540 in 2025 —PSA

The number of working children, ages five to 17, increased last year, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

The estimated number of working children stood at 868,540 in 2025, up from 861,450 in 2024, according to PSA.

Last year’s number, however, is still below the 1.09 million working children recorded in 2023.

The number is 3.1% of the child population in 2025. It is higher than 2.7% recorded in 2024 but below the 3.5% seen in 2023.

In 2025, out of the 868, 540 working children, boys comprised 535,390 or 61.6%, while girls made up 333,150 or 38.4%.

Similarly, more than half of working children were boys in 2024 at 61.8% and in 2023 at 59.1%.

By age group, the majority, or 73.5% of the total working children in 2025, were 15 to 17 years old.

The percentage of working children for the same age group was lower in 2025 compared to the percentage of working children in 2024 at 74.5%, but higher than in 2023 at 72.5%, according to the PSA.

PSA data, moreover, showed that the services sector employed the highest percentage of working children over the past three years.

In 2025, it accounted for 48.7% of all working children, lower than the 50.4% and 50% of working children in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Agriculture was the second largest sector where working children were employed, accounting for 41.2% in 2025, 40.7% in 2024, and 43.7% in 2023.

The industry sector had the least share, with 10.1% of working children in 2025, 8.9% in 2024, and 6.3% in 2023.

The PSA said the majority, or 69.1%, of working children reported to have worked 20 hours or less per week in 2025, lower than those who worked 20 hours or less per week in 2024 and 2023 at 73.8% and 73.7%, respectively.

Meanwhile, children who worked 21 to 40 hours per week accounted for 18.4% of working children aged, higher than 15.2% and 16.4% recorded in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Child laborers

The latest PSA data also revealed that child laborers in the country decreased in 2025.

The PSA defines child laborers as working children who were engaged in the following activities:

• Hazardous Work (Hazardous Child Labor) or activities which are likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of children (as identified in the Department of Labor and Employment Department Order No. 149, Series of 2016 – Guidelines in Assessing and Determining Hazardous Work in the Employment of Persons Below 18 years of Age)
• Work by children below 15 years of age that is more than 20 hours a week or more than four hours at any given day or between eight o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning of the following day (Sec. 12-A, paragraphs (1 and 3) of RA No. 9231)
• Work by children 15 to 17 years of age that exceeds 40 hours a week or more than eight hours a day or between 10 o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning of the following day (Sec. 12-A, paragraphs (2 and 3) of RA No. 9231).

The PSA said the total number of working children who were engaged in child labor was estimated at 513,650 in 2025, higher 509,160 in 2024 but lower compared to 678,360 recorded in 2023.

“Among the total children aged five to 17 years, 1.6% were engaged in child labor in 2024. This proportion increased to 1.8% in 2025,” the PSA said.

“In 2023, the percentage engaged in child labor for the same age group, was estimated at 2.2%,” it said.

Among working children, the PSA said child laborers comprised 59.1% in both 2024 and 2025.

This was lower than the estimated proportion at 62% of working children who were involved in child labor in 2023.

By sex, 373,650 or 72.7% of the estimated 513,650 working children engaged in child labor in 2025 were boys, while 140,000 or 27.3% were girls.

Across age groups, the PSA said child laborers 15 to 17 years old continued to account for the largest share of working children engaged in child labor at 80.5% in 2025.

This was higher than the share of child laborers 15 to 17 years old reported in 2024 at 78.6% and in 2023 at 74.4%.

The agriculture sector continued to account for the largest share of child laborers at 65.5% in 2025, followed by the services sector with 25.8% share and the industry sector with 8.7% share. —AOL, GMA News