Finance Secretary Ralph Recto welcomed Thursday the 2.6 million additional jobs created for Filipinos at the start of 2025, expressing optimism over the rising participation of youth in the labor market.

“This good news affirms that our efforts to unlock the full potential of our demographic sweet spot are paying off. Through targeted government action and strategic reforms, we are not just creating more jobs—we are expanding opportunities and empowering our young workforce to drive innovation, productivity, and sustained long-term growth,” Recto said.

The January 2025 Labor Force Survey (LFS) revealed a significant increase in the labor force participation rate, rising to 63.9 percent from 61.1 percent in the same period last year.

This translates to an additional 2.6 million Filipinos across all age groups joining the labor force.

In particular, youth LFPR (aged 15-24 years old) increased to 31.8 percent from 29.7 percent in the same month last year, indicating greater involvement of young Filipinos in the labor market.

The proportion of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in January 2025 decreased to 11.7 percent, from 13.7 percent in January 2024.

With this development, the country’s unemployment rate declined to 4.3 percent in January, down from 4.5 percent recorded in the same month last year.

Underemployment also decreased to 13.3 percent from 13.7 percent, showing continued improvement in the quality of jobs for Filipinos.

Overall, the total number of employed Filipinos reached 48.5 million in January 2025, significantly higher than the 45.9 million recorded a year ago.

The services sector continued to dominate the labor market, making up 61.6 percent of the total employed persons in January.

This was followed by agriculture (21.1% share) and industry (17.2% share).

The agriculture and forestry sector was the biggest employment driver for the month, adding 883,000 more workers to the labor force compared to the previous year.

Other sectors that posted year-on-year additional jobs included wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (850,000); accommodation and food service activities (533,000); transportation and storage (141,000); and administrative and support service activities (136,000).

Wage and salary workers also continued to make up the largest share of employed persons in the country at 63.0 percent in January.

This was due to the increase in managerial positions, with 1.91 million Filipinos in managerial roles recorded in the said month—higher by 312,000 from the previous year.

In particular, 78.5 percent of wage and salary workers were employed by private establishments, while only 14.1 percent were employed by the government.

Recto is confident that youth participation in the labor force will continue to rise alongside the strengthening labor market, driven by government initiatives to harness the country’s demographic sweet spot.

“We have a multifaceted strategy to sustain our dynamic labor market, focusing on education and workforce development, infrastructure, and investments,” he said.

“We are investing heavily in both intellectual and physical infrastructure. In fact, for the first time in our history, our national budget allocations for both education and infrastructure hit over the trillion-peso mark,” he added.

Among other current initiatives include the Enterprise-Based Education and Training by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, which will align education and training programs with labor market demands to ensure that graduates are equipped for emerging opportunities.

Moreover, the recently enacted Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program Act will help enhance employability by allowing Filipino workers to earn formal academic degrees based on prior learning and work experience.

The Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy Act is expected to attract more capital-intensive investments into the country and generate jobs in higher value-added sectors.

To future-proof the Filipino workforce, the government has in place an Artificial Intelligence Strategy Roadmap to maximize AI adoption for innovation and productivity gains. (PNA)