The Philippines’ unemployment rate climbed to 4.1 percent in April 2025 from 4.0 percent a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.
The jobless rate was also higher than the 3.9 percent recorded in March.
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 employment rate in April 2025 was 95.9 percent, slightly down from 96.0 percent a year earlier. The total number of employed individuals reached 48.67 million, up from 48.35 million in April 2024.
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.
On average, employed persons worked 39.9 hours per week, lower than the 40.5 hours in April 2024 and 40.4 hours 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.
