THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday a decrease in the number of unemployed Filipinos in November, signaling an improvement in the country’s labor market. The unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent, a decrease from the 5.5 percent recorded in October, which was a three-month high. However, the November figure remains higher than the 3.2 percent recorded in the same month last year.
The 4.4 percent unemployment rate translates to 2.25 million unemployed Filipinos, a decrease from the 2.54 million recorded in October 2025, but an increase from the 1.66 million in November of the previous year. Underemployment also saw a decline, falling to 10.4 percent, down from 12.0 percent in October and 10.8 percent in November 2024. The number of underemployed individuals stood at 5.11 million.
The employment rate, meanwhile, recorded an uptick of 95.6 percent, up from 95.0 percent the previous month, but lower than the 96.8 percent recorded last year. The number of employed individuals reached 49.26 million. The country’s Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in November was registered at 64.0, higher than the 63.6 percent a month earlier, but lower than the 64.6 percent recorded a year earlier.
