MANILA — The country’s unemployment rate eased to 3.9 percent in August 2025, down from 4.0 percent in the same period last year and 5.3 percent in July, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In terms of magnitude, the number of unemployed individuals was estimated at 2.03 million in August 2025, lower than the 2.07 million recorded in August 2024 and 2.59 million in July 2025.

The PSA said the labor force participation rate also rose to 65.1 percent in August 2025 from 64.8 percent a year earlier and 60.7 percent in July. This translates to 52.13 million Filipinos aged 15 years and above who were either employed or unemployed during the period.

The employment rate improved to 96.1 percent in August 2025 from 96.0 percent in August 2024 and 94.7 percent in July. The number of employed Filipinos reached 50.10 million, up from 49.15 million in August 2024 and 46.05 million in July 2025.

The underemployment rate, meanwhile, declined to 10.7 percent in August 2025 from 11.2 percent in the same month last year and 14.8 percent in July 2025. This corresponds to 5.38 million employed individuals who wanted additional work hours or an extra job.

Among sectors, services accounted for the largest share of total employment at 61.5 percent, followed by agriculture with 20.4 percent and industry with 18.1 percent.

By class of worker, wage and salary earners made up 64.4 percent of total employment, followed by self-employed workers without any paid employee at 27 percent, unpaid family workers at 7 percent, and employers in their own family-operated businesses at 1.6 percent.

The PSA said employed persons worked an average of 41 hours per week in August 2025, slightly higher than 40.7 hours recorded a year earlier.

Employment among youth aged 15 to 24 years old also rose, with the employment rate reaching 88.3 percent in August 2025 from 88.0 percent in August 2024 and 81.9 percent in July 2025. Of the 5.92 million employed youth, around 678,000 were underemployed, representing 11.5 percent of the total.