Research group IBON said the significant rise in Filipino workers stuck in low-quality jobs or seeking additional work or income exposes the Marcos Jr administration’s claims of a healthy and competitive labor market as a dangerous fiction. The May 2025 labor force figures do not show decent jobs being created, but a deepening jobs crisis marked by rising informality, falling job quality, and stagnant wages.
In May 2025, labor force participation grew year-on-year by 1.35 million to 52.3 million, while employment increased by 1.42 million to 50.3 million. Unemployment slightly declined by 71,000 to around 2 million. However, IBON said that selectively looking at just these figures does not tell the whole story.
The increase in labor force participation hyped by the government just reflects more household members being pushed to actively seek work due to low family incomes and rising living costs. Taking the labor force survey more completely, it becomes clear that more and more Filipinos are striving to get by on increasingly informal or poor-quality work.
Looking at hours worked, part-time workers (those working less than 40 hours) rose by 1.3 million to 16.6 million, while those “with a job, not at work” increased by an also large 908,000 to 1.2 million from just 294,000. Together, these figures indicate a huge 2.2 million increase in poorly compensated or irregular jobs, which is even bigger than the reported 1.4 million rise in total employment. In contrast, full-time workers (40 hours and over) decreased by a large 736,000.
There are other indications of increasing job scarcity. The underemployment rate surged to 13.1% from a huge 1.8 million increase in underemployed workers now totaling 6.6 million. IBON said this figure would be even higher if everyone unsatisfied with their current pay but discouraged from finding additional work by poor job prospects are also counted.
IBON noted that the distribution of employment gains by sector further confirms the growth of poor-quality jobs. The largest employment increases were in sectors notorious for low and irregular pay. There was an increase of 489,000 jobs in wholesale and retail trade (4th worst average daily basic pay: Php486); 469,000 in agriculture and forestry (worst pay: Php355); and 365,000 in accommodation and food services (5th worst pay: Php509).
Job losses in industry subsectors also reflect the poor jobs situation: construction dropped by 298,000 likely due to the election ban on public works; manufacturing fell by 374,000 and mining by 82,000, both indicating worsening deindustrialization; and water supply, sewerage and waste management jobs decreased by 50,000, likely due to corporate streamlining from increased privatization of local water districts.
Overall, IBON estimates that visibly informal work increased by 742,000 to reach 21.2 million in May 2025. This includes the self-employed, private household workers, and those employed in family-operated farm or business. Including those working in informal establishments would add at least another 17 million more to those in informal work.
IBON said that the Marcos administration’s projection of a healthy and competitive labor market is an attempt to mask its failure to address worsening informality and low earnings in what is really an increasingly ailing labor market. Millions of Filipinos forced into low-paid, precarious work just to survive is not labor market strength but a sign of economic failure. A truly healthy labor market can only come from bold economic measures spurring local agricultural development and long-term Filipino industrialization, said the group.
