THE country’s employment rate went up to 96.2 percent in February 2025, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
In a statement, the PSA said that as of February 2025, the Philippines’ labor participation rate (LPFR), or the Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were part of the labor force, or those who were either employed or unemployed, clocked in at 64.5 percent, which translates to a total of 51.09 million individuals.
The LPFR during the entire 2024 was at 64.4 percent.
Of the 51.09 million Filipinos, 49.15 million are employed, while 1.94 million are jobless.
Of the employed individuals, 49.15 million are underemployed or those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.
This translates to a 10.1 percent underemployment rate for February 2025, lower than the 13.3 percent during the month prior, as well as the 12.4 percent during the same month in 2024.
The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons in February 2025 were the accommodation and food service activities; fishing and aquaculture; public administration and defense and compulsory social security; construction and other service activities.
The agriculture and forestry, administrative and support service activities, transportation and storage, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles and professional, scientific and technical activities, however, recorded the highest annual decrease in terms of employed individuals.
In a statement, National Economic Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan reaffirmed the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s commitment to improving the quality of job opportunities available to Filipino workers.
He said the government aims to swiftly pursue initiatives and fast-track the implementation of projects generating high-quality jobs.
“We will build on our momentum and intensify our efforts to secure strategic job-generating investments, promote a dynamic and innovative business environment, and diversify growth drivers. The continued rollout and implementation of high-impact infrastructure flagship projects, particularly in energy, transport, and digital connectivity, will boost domestic employment and business activity,” said Balisacan. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
