Labor group disputes PSA claim on jobless drop

The number of jobless Filipinos actually rose in September 2025 despite official claims of improvement, according to labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM).

“If we dig deeper into the jobs numbers, we find that there are more Filipinos without gainful employment in September compared to the previous month in contrast to the declaration of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),” said Mario Andon, spokesperson of PM Panay.

Andon explained that while PSA reported a drop in the number of officially unemployed Filipinos—from 2.03 million in August to 1.96 million in September—this figure fails to capture those who exited the labor force.

He pointed out that 572,000 Filipinos who were either employed or unemployed in August were no longer counted as part of the labor force by September.

“If we add these to the 1.96 million officially unemployed then we arrive at 2.53 million Filipinos without jobs in September,” Andon said.

He noted that the PSA’s methodology uses a “very strict definition” of unemployment, which he argued does not reflect the reality of underutilized labor.

“If you worked even for just one hour in the previous week then you are already employed,” he said.

“Conversely, even if you are without a job but are not actively looking for work—including if you have gotten tired and/or believe that there is no work available anyway—then you are categorized as not unemployed but instead are outside of the labor force,” he added.

“Either way, the unemployment rate becomes very low due to this very narrow definition,” Andon stressed.

He said the labor situation is especially dire in regions affected by Typhoon Tino, such as the Visayas.

“In truth, so many kababayans are without gainful work,” Andon said.

“This is even more true in the Visayas which has been devastated by Typhoon Tino.”

Andon called on the government to create a national employment program in response to the lack of opportunities.

“Since the private sector cannot offer these kababayans with gainful employment, the government should step in through a jobs guarantee program,” he said.

“Preferably these alternative jobs should be green, decent and long-term instead of the current TUPAD model of emergency work that is mostly sweeping streets,” he added.