Jobless Filipinos drop to 2.77 million in August

Individuals flock to the Provincial Training and Development Center II at the Capitol Complex in Lingayen, Pangasinan to apply for jobs offered by various companies at the Labor Day Job Fair on May 1, 2026.

The STAR / Cesar Ramirez

MANILA, Philippines — The number of jobless Filipinos in August this year declined to 2.77 million, indicating a 5.3% drop in the unemployment rate from July’s 6%.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, October 6, that the number of unemployed individuals in the country dropped from July’s 3.14 million but remains higher than the record from the same period last year.

According to the state’s data agency, the unemployment rate in August 2025 stood at 3.9%, or 2.03 million jobless individuals.

National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said in a press briefing on Wednesday that the decline was driven by fewer individuals entering the labor force.

“In terms of new entrants, mas konti ngayong pumasok ng August kaysa sa pumasok noong Hulyo,” Mapa said.

(In terms of new entrants, fewer people entered in August than in July.)

Compared with July, when 1.5 million Filipinos entered the labor force, only about 897,000 individuals joined the workforce in August. Of this, 470,000 became employed, while 427,000 were unemployed.

The statistics agency also recorded a higher labor force participation rate in August at 64%, higher than the rate in July, which stood at 63.6%.

The labor force refers to individuals 15 years old and above who are either employed or unemployed. The labor force participation rate in August translates to a total of 52.56 million Filipinos, slightly higher than the 52.36 million in July and the 52.13 million in the same month last year.

Higher employment rate

The employment rate, meanwhile, slightly increased to 94.7% in August compared to July’s 94%.

The rate translates to 49.79 million Filipinos having jobs, which is higher than the 49.21 million recorded in July.

The data agency noted, however, that it is lower than the 96.1% record, or 50.10 million individuals, in August 2025.

Most of the employed individuals came from the services sector, with a 61.7% share, or 30.72 million individuals, followed by the agriculture sector with 20.9%, or 10.43 million people, and the industry sector with 17.3%, or 8.64 million Filipinos.

Bad weather, less work hours. The average weekly working hours of employed individuals in August also went down to around 39.2 hours from around 40.6 hours in July and 41 hours in August 2025.

Mapa said that among the main factors that contributed to the shorter weekly work hours in August were inclement weather conditions and flooding that led to work suspensions.

“Ang malaki talaga na rason ay ‘yung bad weather. So medyo bumaba ‘yung hours worked per week ng mga employed persons dahil ni-reason nila na bad weather and alam natin noong August masyadong maraming araw na malalakas ang ulan at meron tayong pagbaha,” Mapa said.

(The main reason was really bad weather. So, the hours worked per week of employed persons declined because they cited bad weather as the reason, and we know that in August, there were many days of heavy rains and flooding.)