By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
Securing a stable source of income in this day and age is one of the most important facets of modern living, as it provides finances not only to pay taxes and bills but also to accumulate savings for the future.
This is what the government envisions for its workforce, as concerned agencies continue to work on ways to ensure that every Filipino has access to a secure occupation aligned with their chosen career paths.
In the latest Labor Force Survey report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday, National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa highlighted the significant decline in underemployment among the working class at 12.2% in May—lower than the 13.1% recorded in April.
These figures account for 6.04 million out of the 49.63 million employed individuals expressing the desire to have an additional job or have longer working hours to make ends meet.
On the other hand, Usec. Mapa shared the 63.8% labor force participation rate (LFPR) recorded in May, an uptick from the 62.7% observed in April.
In May 2026, a total of 52.13 million Filipinos aged 15 years and above who contribute to the country’s bottomline—an increase from the 51.30 million labor sector participants recorded in the prior month.
Capping off his report, marginal movements were also reported in the employment rate (95.2% in May; down from 95.3% in April) and unemployment rate (4.8% in May; down from 4.7% in April), respectively.
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