The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported today that the country’s employment rate for March 2025 stood at 96.1 percent, unchanged from the same period last year, but slightly down from 96.2 percent in February 2025. This corresponds to 48.02 million employed Filipinos, a decrease from 49.15 million in both March 2024 and February 2025.
The unemployment rate remained stable year-on-year at 3.9 percent, while the total number of unemployed individuals declined to 1.93 million in March 2025 from 2.00 million a year ago and 1.94 million in the previous month.
Despite the steady employment rate, the country saw a decline in labor force participation, with the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) falling to 62.9 percent in March 2025, down from 65.3 percent in March 2024 and 64.5 percent in February 2025. This reflects a total labor force of 49.96 million Filipinos aged 15 years and over, compared to 51.15 million in March 2024.
Average working hours improved, with employed individuals working an average of 41.2 hours per week—higher than both March 2024 (40.7 hours) and February 2025 (41.1 hours). Moreover, the number of those working only one hour per week fell to 64 thousand, representing 0.13 percent of total employed persons.
The underemployment rate, however, increased to 13.4 percent, up from 11.0 percent in March 2024 and 10.1 percent in February 2025. This indicates that 6.44 million employed Filipinos desired additional hours or new jobs with more hours in March 2025.
In terms of sectoral distribution, the services sector remained the largest employer, accounting for 62.0 percent of the total employed population. The agriculture and industry sectors contributed 20.1 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively.
Key sub-sectors with the largest annual employment gains included:
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Education (+210 thousand),
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Administrative and support service activities (+145 thousand),
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Fishing and aquaculture (+138 thousand),
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Arts, entertainment and recreation (+91 thousand), and
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Human health and social work activities (+51 thousand).
Conversely, the following sub-sectors experienced the largest annual declines in employment:
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Agriculture and forestry (-609 thousand),
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Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-394 thousand),
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Manufacturing (-281 thousand),
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Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-175 thousand), and
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Professional, scientific and technical activities (-100 thousand).
Month-on-month, notable employment gains were recorded in Administrative and support service activities (+182 thousand), Education (+157 thousand), and Manufacturing (+115 thousand), among others.
The PSA remains committed to providing timely and accurate labor market data to inform policy and planning for national development.
