MANILA — The country’s unemployment rate rose to 4.9 percent in June 2026, up from 4.8 percent in May and higher than the 3.7 percent recorded in the same month last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The latest labor force survey showed that an estimated 2.59 million Filipinos were unemployed in June, higher than the 2.50 million recorded in May and the 1.95 million posted in June 2025.

Despite the increase in unemployment, the number of employed Filipinos reached 50.66 million in June, up from 50.47 million a year earlier and 49.63 million in May.

The employment rate stood at 95.1 percent, slightly lower than 95.2 percent in May and below the 96.3 percent recorded in June last year.

The services sector remained the country’s largest source of employment, accounting for 62.7 percent of all employed persons, followed by agriculture with 20.0 percent and industry with 17.3 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 17.7 percent and Construction at 9.7 percent.

The biggest annual increases in employment were recorded in Accommodation and Food Service Activities with an additional 481,000 workers, Administrative and Support Service Activities with 456,000, Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Social Security with 440,000, Education with 354,000, and Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation with 168,000.

Meanwhile, Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles posted the largest annual decline in employment with 903,000 fewer workers, followed by Fishing and Aquaculture (-467,000), Financial and Insurance Activities (-195,000), Construction (-139,000), and Human Health and Social Work Activities (-94,000).

Compared with May, Agriculture and Forestry recorded the largest increase in employment in June with an additional 453,000 workers. It was followed by Other Service Activities (437,000), Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Social Security (393,000), Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles (213,000), and Education (150,000).

On the other hand, Fishing and Aquaculture registered the biggest month-on-month decline with 207,000 fewer workers, followed by Manufacturing (-185,000), Mining and Quarrying (-106,000), Human Health and Social Work Activities (-104,000), and Accommodation and Food Service Activities (-104,000).

Wage and salary workers continued to comprise the majority of employed Filipinos at 64.1 percent of the workforce. Of these, 77.6 percent were employed in private establishments, while 15.4 percent worked in government or government-controlled corporations.

The average weekly hours worked per employed person was estimated at 40.6 hours in June, slightly higher than the 40.5 hours recorded a year earlier but lower than the 41.1 hours logged in May.

The PSA also reported that about 90,000 employed persons, equivalent to 0.18 percent of the employed population, worked for exactly one hour during the reference week.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate stood at 12.1 percent in June, higher than the 11.4 percent recorded a year earlier but slightly lower than the 12.2 percent posted in May.

Around 6.11 million employed Filipinos said they wanted additional working hours, another job, or a new job with longer working hours. Of the total underemployed, 51.9 percent worked less than 40 hours a week, while 48.1 percent worked 40 hours or more.

Among Filipinos aged 15 to 24, the labor force participation rate rose to 33.7 percent from 33.1 percent a year earlier and 32.3 percent in May.

However, the youth employment rate declined to 86.5 percent from 90.6 percent in June 2025 and 87.6 percent in May. Of the 6.28 million employed youth, about 743,000 were underemployed, resulting in a youth underemployment rate of 11.8 percent.