Research group IBON said that worsening jobs informality and lack of gainful work is driving the rise in employment and big decline in underemployment as indicated in the latest official data. “The Marcos administration is failing to look deeper into and even beyond official statistics – Filipino workers are taking whatever jobs they can, no matter how poor or unstable the conditions, just to put food on the table.”

The group said that the increase in employment may likely be attributed to the increase in informal work. The number of employed persons went up by 204,000 to 49.2 million in February 2025 from 49 million in February 2024. The number of openly informal workers rose by 326,000 to 20.6 million from 20.3 million in the same period, based on IBON estimates.* Informal workers thus make up 42% of total employed.

Meanwhile, the over one-million decline in the number of underemployed is not because the quality of work has improved, said IBON. Instead, this is likely due to government’s push for flexible work arrangements such as variation in work hours, locations and skill sets, which government counts as full-time work. However, while more employed Filipinos may not be seeking additional work, their jobs could still be insecure, in poor working conditions, and lack benefits. Examples of this are freelance or gig workers.

IBON said to arrest the lack of decent and sustainable work, Filipinos should choose leaders who will genuinely strengthen domestic agriculture and Filipino industries to boost the domestic economy and generate more jobs.

* IBON estimates on the 20.6 million openly informal workers in February 2025 are comprised of the self-employed (increased to 13.9 million by 569,000), those in own family-operated farm or business (4.4 million, including 3.3 million unpaid family workers), and domestic workers (2.3 million).