Unemployment hits 2.66 million in February

Fewer Filipinos were jobless in February 2026 compared to January, yet unemployment remained higher than a year ago as more people entered the labor force than could be absorbed, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Wednesday.

The survey showed 2.66 million Filipinos were unemployed in February, down from 2.96 million in January 2026 but above the 1.94 million recorded in February 2025. Meanwhile, the total labor force—Filipinos aged 15 and older working or seeking work—rose to 52.09 million from 50.89 million in January and 51.09 million a year earlier.

Of the 994,000 new labor force entrants in February, only 271,000 found employment, leaving 724,000 still without work. This pushed the unemployment rate to 5.1%, lower than January’s 5.8% but higher than February 2025’s 3.8%.

“More participated (in the labor force) year-on-year. Usually, when more people participate, depending on the labor market situation, some are absorbed as employed persons, while others are not, so they end up unemployed,” National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said.

For the first two months of 2026, the average number of unemployed Filipinos climbed to 2.8 million, up from 2.05 million in the same period last year. Mapa noted that ongoing tensions in the Middle East could further affect employment.

“Comparing the first two months year-on-year, it’s not looking good, plus of course we have risks moving forward because of external problems, so there will definitely be some impact,” she added.

Employment figures show 49.43 million Filipinos had jobs in February, raising the employment rate to 94.9%, slightly above January’s 94.2% and a year-ago figure of 96.2%. The largest year-on-year gains were recorded among clerical support workers (+584,000), plant and machine operators (+579,000), and professionals (+444,000).

Month-to-month increases were most notable in skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers (+496,000), service and sales workers (+455,000), elementary occupations (+340,000), professionals (+283,000), and plant and machine operators (+223,000).

Underemployment—Filipinos seeking more work hours or an additional job—fell to 5.84 million, or 11.8% of the labor force, down from 6.35 million (13.2%) in January and higher than 4.96 million (10.1%) in February 2025.

The PSA warned that if current trends continue, March data, to be released in May, could reflect similar pressures, with data collection already underway for the April survey.