Candidates strive their luck at a job truthful in Could 2017 on the SM Cebu mall. Cebu’s financial system continues to develop and with it a rise in employment within the province and the area. | CDN FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Whereas the nation’s newest labor pressure information reveals a slight drop in unemployment, many Filipino employees are nonetheless struggling to make ends meet, with underemployment and low job high quality stay persistent challenges.
In an unique interview with CDN Digital, Lawyer Roy Buenafe, the regional director of the Division of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (DOLE-7), acknowledged that whereas the unemployment fee in Central Visayas has improved, the financial actuality for a lot of stays tough.
“It’s good that our unemployment fee has dropped barely, nevertheless it doesn’t essentially imply our financial system is already doing nicely,” Buenafe stated.
“We even have to have a look at underemployment. Many workers now want additional earnings due to the excessive value of every day residing, particularly for our abnormal employees — transportation, market costs, and fundamental wants are nonetheless rising,” he added.
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The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on March 6 that the nationwide unemployment fee eased to 4.3 % in January 2025, a slight enchancment from 4.5 % in January 2024. This interprets to 2.16 million Filipinos with out jobs, a lower from 2.18 million in the identical interval final yr.
Nevertheless, regardless of this enchancment, 6.47 million Filipinos, or 13.3 % of the labor pressure, stay underemployed, which means they’ve jobs however are actively in search of extra work or longer hours to outlive financially.
Though this determine is barely decrease than the 13.7 % underemployment fee recorded in January 2024, it nonetheless factors to a deeper, structural subject inside the job market: employment doesn’t all the time assure monetary safety.
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Buenafe warned {that a} low unemployment fee alone shouldn’t be seen as an indication of financial success.
“We can not say that even when unemployment is low, our financial system is already robust. We nonetheless must be vigilant, particularly right here in Central Visayas,” he stated.
Extra employees taking additional jobs, longer hours
Knowledge from the PSA additionally reveals worrying traits about work hours. The typical weekly hours labored dropped from 42.2 hours in January 2024 to 40.4 hours in January 2025, indicating fewer alternatives for full-time employment or additional time pay.
Alarmingly, the variety of Filipinos reporting just one hour of labor per week elevated to 59,000 this yr from 34,000 final yr, highlighting the rise of unstable, irregular work preparations.
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Economists have additionally raised issues that whereas extra Filipinos are getting jobs, many of those are low-paying, contractual, or casual jobs that usually lack safety, social advantages, and profession development alternatives.
A latest Inquirer report listed the highest high-paying and in-demand jobs within the Philippines this 2025, akin to Gross sales Marketing campaign Supervisor, Lead Era Specialist, and SaaS Product Supervisor, with salaries starting from P30,000 to P180,000 per thirty days.
Nevertheless, these positions require specialised abilities and expertise, highlighting the widening hole between job seekers’ {qualifications} and market calls for.
Dole requires abilities upgrading, trade shift
To handle the mismatch between obtainable jobs and the abilities of the workforce, Buenafe stated the company could be pushing for stronger intervention measures.
“We actually want intervention. We should upskill and improve our workforce. Many high-paying jobs immediately are tough to fill as a result of we lack certified candidates…We can not simply deal with growing employment numbers. Now we have to make sure the standard of jobs improves too,” Buenafe defined.
Buenafe emphasised that the Philippine financial system could be shifting towards the fifth Industrial Revolution, which might demand employees with extra superior technical and digital abilities.
He additionally pressured the essential position of the schooling sector in reshaping the workforce to satisfy these new trade calls for.
“The academe performs a vital position. TESDA, which is beneath DOLE, has aggressive applications to handle job mismatch — an issue we’ve confronted for a very long time…We might not remedy every part instantly, however no less than we’re engaged on stopping larger issues sooner or later,” he stated.
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