By Brian Campued
The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) welcomed the improvement in the country’s employment data as of June 2025 but reiterated its commitment to addressing the gaps to make the Philippine labor market more “inclusive, competitive, and resilient.”
DEPDev Sec. Arsenio Balisacan issued the statement following the latest Labor Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing that the employment rate rose to 96.3% in June from 96.1% in May. This is equivalent to about 50.47 million employed Filipinos during the month, compared to 50.29 million in the previous month.
According to PSA, the fishing and aquaculture sub-sector recorded the highest annual increase in employment at 512,000, while construction logged the highest decrease with 692,000.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, went down to 3.7% or around 1.95 million in June 2025 from 3.9% or 2.03 million in the previous month.
However, the number of unemployed Filipinos in June this year was higher than the number recorded in June 2024 at 1.62 million.
The underemployment rate—or the number of employed individuals who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work—dropped to 11.4% during the month compared to 12.1% in May.
Balisacan noted that the government’s “efforts are bearing fruit” but acknowledged that “more work lies ahead” with the uptick in the year-on-year unemployment rate.
“We must accelerate structural reforms to make our labor market more inclusive, competitive, and resilient,” the DEPDev chief said.
“To address this, we are committed to enhancing workforce competitiveness by aligning education and training systems with industry needs and accelerating interventions to improve school-to-work transitions and youth employability,” he added.
Part of the government’s initiatives to strengthen workforce development and generate high-quality jobs under the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan, Balisacan said, include policy reforms aimed at promoting industry-driven learning among Filipinos to help them adapt to the evolving labor market demands.
To address the decline in youth unemployment, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) implements programs such as the Special Program for the Employment of Students, the Government Internship Program, the JobStart Philippines Program, as well as coordination with Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) in local government units and school-based Job Placement Offices.
“Through sustained collaboration and innovation, we aim not just to create more jobs, but to sustain improvements in the lives of all Filipinos,” the country’s Chief Economist stated. (with Denisse Osorio / PTV News)
-jpv
