Unemployment rate climbs to 4.2% in 2025

The Philippines ended 2025 with a higher unemployment rate, even as underemployment remained unchanged, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

- By LOUELLA DESIDERIO

File photo shows applicants at a job fair in Makati.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a press conference yesterday that the average unemployment rate climbed to 4.2 percent last year from 3.8 percent in 2024.

In December alone, the country’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.4 percent from the previous month, but went up compared to the 3.1 percent registered in the same month in 2024.

This translated to 2.26 million jobless Filipinos in December 2025, up from 2.25 million in the previous month and 1.63 million in December 2024.

Mapa attributed the higher unemployment level in December to the reduction in jobs in the construction sector after flood control corruption issues unraveled last year.

“Public construction expenditure decreased in the fourth quarter. In fact, it decreased even more compared to the third quarter. So it is reflected here that because the disbursement in public construction decreased, only a few were hired,” he said.

Mapa said the employment rate declined to 95.8 percent in 2025 from 96.2 percent in 2024.