Philippine unemployment rate rises to 4.3% in January

JOB SEEKERS Workers calling for local employment opportunities  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — There were 2.16 million jobless Filipinos in January, up from 1.63 million unemployed in December, as the wealth of seasonal jobs during the Christmas rush might have started to wane, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.

That was equivalent to an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, worse than the 3.1 percent rate in December 2024.

READ: Joblessness dips in December 2024 – PSA.

At the same time, there were 6.47 million employed individuals who sought additional jobs or extra working hours in January to augment their income, higher than the 5.48 million in the preceding month.

Philippine historical jobs data

That translated to an underemployment rate of 13.3 percent, worse than the 10.9 percent previously.

The unemployment rate also worsened from last year’s full-year average rate of 3.8 percent.

READ: PH unemployment rate hit record-low 3.8% in 2024

By broad industry group, services continued to be the top sector in terms of the number of employed persons, with a share of 61.6 percent of total employed persons in January 2025. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 21.1 percent and 17.2 percent of the total number of employed persons, respectively.