Nearly 3 million Filipinos jobless at start of 2026

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March 13, 2026 | 12:16pm

MANILA, Philippines — Almost 3 million Filipinos were unemployed as of January this year ahead of global surge in oil prices that would hit business hard.

In a report released on March 13, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the unemployment rate in the country was 5.8%. This is higher than recorded last year, which was 4.3%. 

This means 2.96 million of 80.89 Filipinos qualified for work were jobless at the start of the year, while 2.17 million Filipinos were unemployed at the same period in 2025. 

The PSA also recorded a slightly lower underemployment rate at 13.2% in January 2026, compared to the 13.3% recorded during the same time last year. A person is classified as underemployed if they express the need for more work hours or a second job. 

The services sector remained the highest source of employment for Filipinos, providing 63.6% of jobs. This is followed by the Industry (18.3%) and Agriculture (18.1%) sectors. 

The top three sub-sectors with the highest employment rates were: Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles (19.3%), Agriculture and Forestry (15.7%), and Construction (9.6%). 

The following sub-sectors had the highest annual increases in the number of employed people in January 2026: 

1. Administrative and Support Service Activities (Up by 403,000)
2. Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Social Security (Up by 342,000)
3. Manufacturing (Up by 326,000)
4. Transportation and Storage (Up by 160,000)
5. Human health and social work activities (Up by 87,000)

Meanwhile, the following sub-sectors had the highest annual decreases: 

1. Agriculture and Forestry (Down by 1.42 million)
2. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (Down by 729,000)
3. Fishing and aquaculture (Down by 140,000)
4. Financial and insurance activities (Down by 15,000)
5. Real estate activities (Down by 7,000)

The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) acknowledged the need to make the country’s workforce more resilient to global economic shocks, including the rising fuel prices due to Middle East tensions. 

“Given elevated geopolitical tensions and global uncertainties, strategic policies are needed to bolster labor market resilience. The government continues to pursue a comprehensive response to support affected workers in the short term while fostering a dynamic and robust labor market in the medium and long term,” DEPDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.