Unemployment Eases in May; Are Filipinos Getting Decent Jobs?

The unemployment rate dipped to 3.9 percent in May from 4.1 percent a month earlier as the number of employed Filipinos in the workforce rose to 52.32 million. Does this actually mean Filipinos are landing high-quality and stable jobs?

Based on preliminary data from the country’s statistics agency, there were about 2.03 million jobless people in the month of May, which was lower than the 2.11 million posted the same month a year earlier and the 2.06 million recorded in April this year.

In the same month, the employment rate inched up to 96.1 percent from 95.9 percent in May last year and April this year.

The country’s labor force participation rate, or the number of Filipinos aged 15 years old and above in the workforce, increased to 65.8 percent from 63.7 percent a month earlier.

“The lower unemployment and underemployment rates shouldn't be taken at face value because the underlying trends in magnitude paint a different and, from the perspective of actual worker and family welfare outcomes, a much more meaningful picture,” IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa told Esquire Philippines in an interview.

“There are many signs of the problem of worsening informality in the labor market with its attendant low pay and insecurity.”

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Looking at the numbers, he said the main driver of joblessness was the 1.42 million increase in the magnitude of employed Filipinos.

“Unpacking this seemingly favorable increase however shows more and more Filipinos trying to scrape out a living from whatever informal and poor quality work they can find from an economy that is failing to create regular and decently-paying work,” the economist noted.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the services sector continued to have the biggest share of employed Filipinos in May at 61.8 percent of total employed people.

The agriculture sector trailed at 21.1 percent next to the industry sector at 17.1 percent.

Manufacturing saw the highest drop in employed individuals, with a decrease of 374,000 workers, construction with 298,000 fewer workers, and mining and quarrying with 82,000 fewer workers.

“The decline in construction workers could be linked to the suspension of construction activities due to the rainy season. Most of these activities were being done for projects of private companies,” National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa told a news briefing following the employment data release.

“The record-high labor force participation rate is a bright spot—it shows more Filipinos are willing and able to work. The challenge now is ensuring that participation translates into stable and sustainable, well-paying employment,” said Jonathan Ravelas, senior adviser at professional service firm Reyes Tacandong & Co.

Are Filipinos Getting High-Quality Jobs?

Besides the improved employment rate, a low point in the recent jobs data survey by the PSA is the worsening job quality in the country.

The underemployment rate, which represents the number of employed Filipinos looking for additional work or longer hours, increased to 13.1 percent in May from 9.9 percent a year earlier.

“Government claims of high labor force participation and employment rates are premature,” Josua Mata, Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa secretary-general, told Esquire Philippines.

“This underscores the economy’s continued failure to generate enough decent jobs. The persistently high underemployment rate also points to the poor quality of jobs being created,” he added.

The labor advocate said the underemployment situation in the Philippines is “even more alarming” when compared to the country’s neighbors in Southeast Asia, other than Indonesia.

Mata also highlighted the continued drop in employed manufacturing, which sorely needs support from the government, and the expected impact of Trump’s reciprocal tariff scheme on the economy, which could disrupt the Philippine export sectors.

“This indicates that many Filipinos are struggling to find quality, full-time jobs that can support their living needs.

“The economy and the people are not served by spinning obviously poor labor market outcomes as signs of a ‘healthy and competitive Philippine labor market’,” Africa said.

He added that the latest labor figures confirm the Marcos administration's inability to address worsening informality and earnings in an increasingly ailing labor market.

The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said the higher labor force participation rate showed a healthy and competitive Philippine labor market.

“More part-time workers seeking extra work hours cited variable working schedules or the nature of their work. Likewise, more workers mentioned holidays as their reason for working fewer than 40 hours,” the agency said in a statement.

Labor groups have also been pushing for more equitable minimum wage hikes alongside better job security and quality.

The National Capital Region’s Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board last month granted a P50 hike to daily minimum pay for workers in Metro Manila.

The P50 increase is set to benefit about 1.2 million minimum wage workers in the capital region

This comes after legislators failed to reconcile a P200 wage hike bill after the 19th Congress adjourned without tackling the measure.

According to data from the IBON Foundation, the number of those in visibly informal work went up by 742,000 from last year to reach 21.2 million in May this year, which encompasses the self-employed, employed in family-operated farms or business, and private households.

Africa also chided the largest increases of employed individuals per sector which only consisted of the sectors notorious for low, irregular, and insecure pay and earnings.

The PSA reported that of the total underemployed workers in May, about 59.2 percent worked less than 40 hours in a week, while 40.8 percent worked 40 hours or more in a week.

“This pattern of weak, mediocre job creation should be a wake-up call for our economic managers,” SENTRO’s Mata said, commenting on the supposed continued lackluster job creation efforts from the government.

“It’s time they faced the facts: we need a better, bolder strategy to generate quality employment and lift Filipino workers out of precarity,” he added.