Over 1 million jobs lost in March as agri, gov't sectors shrink

A drop in employment was recorded in the country in March this year, with the total number of employed individuals falling by 1.13 million to 48.02 million from 49.15 million the previous year, a decline the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) attributed to job losses in the government sector, influenced by the election hiring ban, and the agriculture sector.

- By DERCO ROSAL

Claire Dennis S. Mapa, PSA undersecretary and national statistician, said at a May 7 press briefing, that the biggest contributor to the decline was the agriculture and forestry sector, which shed around 609,000 jobs—483,000 of which came from rice farming, particularly in major rice-producing regions like Cagayan Valley and Western Visayas.

The public administration and defense sector also recorded a decline of 394,000 jobs, partly attributed to the impact of the election ban on government hiring.

Despite this decline, the employment rate held steady at 96.1 percent, unchanged from a year ago.

Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.9 percent in March, down from 65.3 percent a year earlier and 64.5 percent in February. This translates to 49.96 million Filipinos either employed or actively seeking work, down from 51.15 million in March last year and 51.09 million in the previous month.

Schooling and household responsibilities were cited as the primary reasons for individuals not actively seeking employment.

On the contrary, the unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent in March 2025, unchanged from a year earlier, but it inched up slightly from February's 3.8 percent.

But the number of jobless Filipinos dropped to 1.93 million during the month, slightly down from two million in the same month last year. It also decreased from February's 1.94 million unemployed persons.