Unemployment, underemployment rates climb in October

MANILA, December 11 ------ The Philippines' unemployment and underemployment rates climbed in October from September, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

October's jobless rate rose to 5 percent from 3.8 percent in September, based on PSA data. This meant that 2.54 million Filipino workers were unemployed, which was higher than the 1.96 million workers jobless in September. The underemployment rate also climbed to 12 percent in October from 11.1 percent in September. This meant that 5.81 million workers were underemployed during the month, up from 5.52 million in September.

The PSA defines underemployment as workers who already have a job but are still looking for an extra job or extra work hours. On an annual basis, the October 2025 jobless rate was also higher than the October 2024 jobless rate of 3.9 percent. "In terms of magnitude, the number of unemployed individuals in October 2025 was posted at 2.54 million, higher than the number of unemployed individuals in October last year at 1.97 million," the PSA said.

National Statistician and PSA undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa said that part of the reason why more people were unemployed in October this year compared to last year was the increase in the number of workers who joined the labor force. He noted that there were 51.16 million workers in the labor force in October this year compared to 50.12 million in October last year, adding 1.04 million workers to the number of people looking for jobs. However, only 463,000 of these new workers were able to find jobs. "So yung iba, hindi na-absorb ng labor market," Mapa said.

Mapa also noted that the construction sector grew in terms of workers hired on an annual basis, but also shed a lot of jobs in October compared to the previous month. Construction added 23,000 jobs in October this year, from last year. Compared to July this year, which is the start of the third quarter, the sector also added 102,000 jobs in October. But when compared to September, construction actually lost 261,000 jobs.

The PSA said that the top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons in October were the following:

- Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (257,000)

- Accommodation and food service activities (180,000)

- Agriculture and forestry (168,000)

- Manufacturing (152,000)

- Fishing and aquaculture (88,000)

Meanwhile the sub-sectors that lost the most number of jobs from last year were:

- Other service activities (-520,000)

- Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-66,000)

- Professional, scientific and technical activities (-47 thousand);

- Mining and quarrying (-33,000)

- Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (-21,000)

Mapa meanwhile also said that employment figures generally pick up in the "ber" months as consumption rises leading to the Christmas season.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com