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Philippine unemployment rises to 2.5 million as fresh graduates face shrinking job market
There are also 6 million underemployed Filipino workers—those seeking an additional job or side hustle to supplement their income—representing 12.2% of the labour force
- PUBLISHED: Thu 9 Jul 2026, 2:44 PM
Gabriel Marquez recently graduated from the University of the Philippines, joining an estimated 700,000 college graduates across the country this year. The newly minted 22-year-old statistician is scheduled for a job interview at a local bank on Thursday.
But Gabriel's parents would rather see their son join them in Europe and seek employment abroad, like the more than 10 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and expatriates.
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Their preference actually aligns with the country's worsening employment picture this year.
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The Philippines' unemployment rate stood at 4.7 per cent at the start of the year, with 2.41 million Filipinos out of work. Six months later, that number had risen by nearly 600,000.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in its latest Labor Force Survey announced there are now 2.5 million jobless, representing 4.8 per cent of the country’s 51.3 million labor force. There are also 6 million underemployed Filipino workers—those seeking an additional job or side hustle to supplement their income—representing 12.2 per cent of the labour force.
These are the numbers that Gabriel has become part of. He joins the millions of employable individuals actively seeking jobs. Youth employment in the Philippines remains a critical pressure point, with the employment rate among the youth dropping to 87.6 per cent from 95.2 per cent, leaving many young jobseekers vulnerable.
Weather and war
It is the Philippine agricultural sector that bears the brunt of the slide in employment numbers. National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said the significant year-on-year rise in the jobless rate numbers about 905,000.
Mapa blamed the onset of the super El Niño phenomenon as many farmers have chosen to skip cropping seasons due to reduced rains this year, causing loss of jobs among agricultural workers.
"There are about 734,000 rice growing workers and 428,000 corn growers who lost their jobs due to the impact of the weather condition this 2026," he said.
Malacañang Palace, for its part, acknowledged that the oil crisis brought about by the Middle East war contributed to the rise in the unemployment rate.
Palace press officer Claire Castro said fishermen could not regularly sail out due to increases in fuel prices. Castro further noted that other agricultural workers have opted to find other means of livelihood due to the effects of high fuel costs.
‘Stop blaming external forces’
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP/ Farmers’ Movement of the Philippines), however, underscored the Ferdinand Marcos Jr government should stop blaming the country’ worsening economic conditions to external events such as the weather and the war in the Middle East.
"Rising unemployment are not simply the result of external events, but of government’s failure of policies," noted KMP, criticising the government "for its failure to implement pro-people policies that should resist natural and geopolitical pressures."
"Job loss is primarily government’s failure," KMP added.