As controversy about flood control projects continues to dominate the news cycles, more Filipinos reported themselves as unemployed this past July as the unemployment rate jumped to 5.3%, according to a GMA Network business news report.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the business news report of GMA. Some parts in boldface…
The number of Filipinos without jobs or livelihoods increased in July 2025 due to weather disturbances which affected various sectors of the labor market during the period, according to the results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest Labor Force Survey.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa reported that unemployed persons, ages 15 and above, rose to 2.59 million from 1.95 million in June 2025. This was also higher than the 2.38 million jobless in July 2024.
As a percentage of 48.64 million participants in the labor force who are actively looking for labor opportunities during the period, the number of jobless persons translated to an unemployment rate of 5.3%, up from 3.7% month-on-month.
This means 53 in 1,000 individuals do not have jobs or livelihoods during the period. This was also the highest unemployment since August 2022’s 5.3%.
Labor force participation in July 2025 declined from 52.42 million in June 2025 and 50.06 million in July 2024.
Likewise, employed persons, or those with jobs and livelihoods, during the period contracted to 46.05 million from 50.47 million in June 2025 and 47.68 million in July 2024.
As a percentage of labor force participants, the employment rate stood at 94.7%, lower than the 96.3% seen in June 2025 and 95.3% in July 2024.
Mapa attributed the increase in unemployed persons and decreases in both employed and labor force participation to the series of storms which hit the country during the month.
“Una talaga ang nangyari dito sa July round is first tinamaan ang ating bansa, maraming areas ng typhoons. Ito talaga ‘yung nakita namin na main reason kung bakit bumababa ang labor force participation at employment na rin,” the PSA chief said.
(First, what we saw during the July round is that many areas of the country were hit by typhoons. This was really the main reason why the labor force participation and employment numbers declined.)
Let me end this post by asking you readers: What is your reaction to the recent developments? Do you think the unemployment rate of the Philippines will remain above 5% until the end of the year?
You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.
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