Palace: Gov’t to work harder to generate more jobs for Filipinos

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos | Philippine News Agency

The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will double its efforts to open more job opportunities for Filipinos, Malacañang vowed Tuesday, as it welcomed the increase in employment in May 2025.

This, after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s labor force now reached 65.8% of the population as of May 2025, higher than the 64.8% logged in May 2024.

In a press briefing, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is “happy” that government efforts to provide quality jobs to Filipinos are bearing fruit.

“Pagpupursigihin pa. Hindi ito natatapos dito. Kumbaga hindi ito para magpunyagi. Kailangan mas maganda pa ang ipakita ng administration para makapagbigay pa ng mas maraming trabaho sa ating mga kababayan,” Castro said.

“Layon ng Marcos administration na pataasin pa ang bilang ng mga Pilipino na mabigyan ng trabaho sa ilalim ng Bagong Pilipinas.”

The government has provided 170,000 jobs for Filipinos through job fairs held from 2022 to May 1, 2025, according to government data.

According to the PSA’s Labor Force Survey, an additional 1.4 million Filipinos have joined the labor force, which now consists of 52.32 million individuals.

The unemployment rate declined to 3.9% in May 2025, down from 4.1 percent in May 2024.

The underemployment rate rose to 13.1% in May 2025 from 9.9% in May 2024, as more part-time workers seeking extra work hours cited variable working schedules or the nature of work as the reasons for working less than 40 hours per week, according to the PSA report.