Jobless rate down marginally last January, 2.16 million still unemployed

Filipinos seek employment opportunities as the nation's labor force participation rate rises.

The country’s unemployment dipped slightly to 4.3 percent in January 2025 from 4.5 percent in the same month last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority's (PSA) latest Labor Force Survey.

Despite this marginal improvement, the number of unemployed individuals remained at 2.16 million.

However, the unemployment level accelerated from 3.1 percent in December last year.

The employment rate rose to 95.7 percent from 95.5 percent a year before, with 48.49 million Filipinos employed.

Meanwhile, the Labor Force Participation Rate surged to 63.9 percent from 61.1 percent in January 2024, translating to 50.65 million Filipinos in the labor force.

The underemployment rate also decreased to 13.3 percent from 13.7 percent in January last year.

The services sector continues to be the largest employer, accounting for 61.6 percent of total employment, with agriculture and forestry, along with wholesale and retail trade, experiencing the largest annual increases in employment.