A drop in the Philippines’ unemployment rate was recorded in May, falling to 3.9 percent from April’s 4.1 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.

This resulted in having 50.29 million persons with jobs compared to 48.87 million, year-on-year.

Underemployment rates also went down to 13.1 percent in May compared to 14.6 percent in the previous month.

This translates to approximately 6.6 million of the 50.29 million employed Filipinos saying that they wanted more work or longer working hours.

The labor force participation rate increased to 65.8 percent in May, translating to a total of 52.32 million Filipinos aged 15 years and over who are in the labor force, the highest recorded number since April 2005.

The higher labor force participation rate resulted in an additional 1.58 million Filipinos entering the labor force since April 2025, when the labor force was estimated at 50.74 million. The labor force stood at 50.97 million in April 2024.

In May, the service sector hired the most employees, with 61.8 percent followed by 21.1 percent in agriculture and 17.1 percent in the industry sector.

The May 2025 Labor Force Survey was conducted from May 8 to 25 with 11,186 eligible sample households participating in the study. Velle White/DMS