MANILA – The country’s unemployment rate in May 2026 increased to 4.8 percent, with an estimated 2.50 million Filipinos out of work, according to the latest Labor Force Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The latest figure was slightly higher than the 4.7 percent unemployment rate recorded in April 2026 and the 3.9 percent posted in May 2025.

The number of unemployed persons also rose to 2.50 million from 2.41 million in April 2026 and 2.03 million in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the employment rate stood at 95.2 percent in May 2026, slightly lower than the 95.3 percent recorded in April and the 96.1 percent posted in May 2025.

The total number of employed Filipinos reached 49.63 million, higher than the 48.89 million recorded in April but lower than the 50.29 million employed in May 2025.

The services sector remained the country’s largest source of employment, accounting for 61.8 percent of total employed persons. It was followed by agriculture with 19.9 percent and industry with 18.3 percent.

Among subsectors, Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles employed the largest share of workers at 19.6 percent, followed by Agriculture and Forestry at 17.2 percent and Construction at 10 percent.

The PSA said the biggest annual employment gains were recorded in Administrative and Support Service Activities with an additional 329,000 workers, followed by Mining and Quarrying (184,000), Human Health and Social Work Activities (173,000), Fishing and Aquaculture (170,000), and Construction (168,000).

On the other hand, Agriculture and Forestry posted the largest annual decline in employment with 905,000 fewer workers, followed by Other Service Activities (-442,000), Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Social Security (-213,000), Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles (-141,000), and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (-75,000).

Compared with April 2026, the largest month-on-month increase in employment was recorded in Agriculture and Forestry with an additional 308,000 workers. Accommodation and Food Service Activities added 266,000 workers, followed by Administrative and Support Service Activities (152,000), Construction (147,000), and Human Health and Social Work Activities (131,000).

Meanwhile, the largest monthly declines were seen in Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Social Security (-175,000), Transportation and Storage (-140,000), Other Service Activities (-139,000), Financial and Insurance Activities (-127,000), and Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply (-29,000).

By class of worker, wage and salary workers accounted for 64.3 percent of total employment, followed by self-employed workers without paid employees at 27.2 percent, unpaid family workers at 6.8 percent, and employers in family-operated farms or businesses at 1.8 percent.

Among wage and salary workers, those employed in private establishments made up 79.4 percent of the total, equivalent to 51 percent of all employed persons. Government and government-controlled corporation employees accounted for 14.2 percent of wage and salary workers or 9.1 percent of total employment.

The average weekly hours worked per employed person increased to 41.1 hours in May, compared to 40.2 hours in April and 39.8 hours in May last year.

The number of workers who worked for exactly one hour during the reference week also declined to about 57,000, representing 0.12 percent of total employment.

The country’s underemployment rate improved to 12.2 percent in May from 15.2 percent in April and 13.1 percent in May 2025.

The PSA estimated that 6.04 million employed Filipinos wanted additional working hours, another job, or a new job with longer hours.

Among the underemployed, 53.7 percent worked less than 40 hours a week, while 46.3 percent worked 40 hours or more.

For young workers aged 15 to 24, the labor force participation rate was estimated at 32.3 percent in May, down from 33.6 percent in the same month last year but slightly higher than the 31.8 percent recorded in April.

The youth employment rate stood at 87.6 percent, lower than the 91.5 percent recorded in May 2025 but slightly higher than the 87.4 percent posted a month earlier.

Of the 6.10 million employed youth, around 787,000 were underemployed, translating to a youth underemployment rate of 12.9 percent.