The Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest Labor Force Survey shows that a number of Filipinos without jobs or livelihoods increased in July 2025.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa reported that unemployed persons, ages 15 and above, rose to 2.59 million from 1.95 million in June 2025.

PSA said the country’s labor force participation rate (LFPR) in July 2025 decreased to 60.7 percent, from 63.5 percent in July 2024 and 63.7 percent in April 2025.

The estimated LFPR in July 2025 translates to a total of 48.64 million Filipinos aged 15 years and over who were in the labor force. In July 2024, the number of individuals aged 15 years old and over who were in the labor force was 50.06 million, while 50.74

In July 2025, the unemployment rate was estimated at 5.3 percent, higher than the unemployment rate of 4.7 percent in July 2024 and 4.1 percent in April 2025.

In terms of levels, the number of unemployed individuals in July 2025 was posted at 2.59 million. This was higher than the number of unemployed individuals in July last year at 2.38 million and in April 2025 at 2.06 million.

The employment rate in July 2025 dropped to 94.7 percent from 95.3 percent in July of the previous year and in April 2025 at 95.9 percent.

In terms of magnitude, the number of employed persons in July 2025 decreased to 46.05 million from 47.68 million in July 2024 and 48.67 million in April 2025. (

Employment by Sector and Sub-Sector

In July 2025, Services sector accounted for the largest share of total employment at 62.8 percent, followed by Industry with 18.7 percent and Agriculture at 18.5 percent. By subsector, the top three with the highest employment were Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles (19.2%), Agriculture and Forestry (16.0%), and Construction (10.0%). (Tables 1 and 2A)

The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons in July 2025 were the following:

1. Administrative and support service activities (296 thousand);
2. Transportation and storage (208 thousand);
3. Human health and social work activities (169 thousand);
4. Manufacturing (109 thousand); and
5. Education (96 thousand).

In contrast, the following five sub-sectors posted the highest annual decreases in the number of employed persons:

1. Agriculture and forestry (-1.38 million);
2. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-897 thousand);
3. Fishing and aquaculture (-173 thousand);
4. Construction (-147 thousand); and
5. Accommodation and food service activities (-69 thousand).

In terms of quarter-on-quarter changes in the number of employed persons in July 2025, the top five sub-sectors with the largest increase were the following:

1. Manufacturing (233 thousand);
2. Professional, scientific and technical activities (80 thousand);
3. Transportation and storage (68 thousand);
4. Financial and insurance activities (60 thousand); and
5. Information and communication (58 thousand).

On the other hand, the top five sub-sectors with the largest drop in the number of employed persons from April 2025 to July 2025 were the following:

1. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-1.29 million);
2. Agriculture and forestry (-1.23 million);
3. Fishing and aquaculture (-258 thousand);
4. Construction (-206 thousand); and
5. Administrative and support service activities (-105 thousand).

By class of worker, wage and salary workers accounted for more than half of the employed persons (68.7%) in July 2025. This was followed by self-employed without any paid employee (24.7%), unpaid family workers (3.9%), and employers in own family-operated farm or business (2.6%). (Table 1)

Among wage and salary workers, those employed in private establishments remained to have the highest share of 78.5 percent of the total wage and salary workers or 53.9 percent of the total number of employed persons. This was followed by those employed in government or government-controlled corporations with a share of 14.4 percent of the wage and salary workers or 9.9 percent of the total number of employed persons during the period.

Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) registered the highest employment rate in July 2025 at 96.6 percent, while Region V (Bicol Region) had the lowest at 92.3 percent.

Eight regions posted unemployment rate higher than the national average of 5.3 percent in July 2025. These were: Region V – Bicol Region (7.7%), Region IV-A – CALABARZON (6.6%), Region VII – Central Visayas (6.1%), MIMAROPA Region (6.0%), Negros Island Region (5.7%), Region IX – Zamboanga Peninsula (5.6%), Region VI – Western Visayas (5.6%) and Region VIII – Eastern Visayas (5.3%).