The Marcos administration will double its efforts to open more job opportunities for Filipinos, Malacañang vowed Tuesday, as it welcomed the increase in employment in May 2025.

This, after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s labor force now reached 65.8 percent of the population as of May 2025, higher than the 64.8 percent logged in May 2024.

In a press briefing, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is “happy” that government efforts to provide quality jobs to Filipinos are bearing fruit.

“Pagpu-pursigihin pa. Hindi ito natatapos dito. Kumbaga hindi ito para magpunyagi. Kailangan mas maganda pa ang ipakita ng administration para makapagbigay pa na mas maraming trabaho sa ating mga kababayan (We will work harder. It doesn’t end here. Apparently, it’s not something to celebrate. The administration needs to show better performance so that it can provide more jobs to our countrymen),” Castro said.

“Layon ng Marcos administration na pataasin pa ang bilang ng mga Pilipino na mabigyan ng trabaho sa ilalim ng Bagong Pilipinas (The Marcos administration aims to further increase the number of Filipinos who will be given jobs under the New Philippines).”

The government has provided 170,000 jobs for Filipinos through job fairs held from 2022 to May 1, 2025, according to government data.

According to the PSA’s Labor Force Survey, an additional 1.4 million Filipinos have joined the labor force, which now consists of 52.32 million individuals.

The unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent in May 2025, down from 4.1 percent in May 2024.

The underemployment rate rose to 13.1 percent in May 2025 from 9.9 percent in May 2024, as more part-time workers seeking extra work hours cited variable working schedules or the nature of work as the reasons for working less than 40 hours per week, according to the PSA report. (PNA)