{"id":338259,"date":"2025-12-11T04:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338259\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T04:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:31:07","slug":"philippines-higher-unemployment-rate-linked-to-government-corruption-says-labour-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338259\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines\u2019 higher unemployment rate linked to government corruption, says labour group"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 11, 2025<\/p>\n

MANILA \u2013 Labor group Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) on Wednesday expressed alarm over the higher unemployment rate in the country, which it said was \u201cclearly linked\u201d to the ongoing corruption scandal involving the government\u2019s flood control projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when the economy should be expanding ahead of the Christmas season, unemployment has climbed to 5 percent\u2014a level that signals distress, not growth,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Sentro was reacting to the results of the latest labor force survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, which showed that the country\u2019s unemployment rate rose to 5 percent in October this year from 3.9 percent in the same period last year.<\/p>\n

This meant that 2.54 million Filipinos were unemployed as of October, compared to only 1.97 million last year.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Philippine jobless rate jumps to 5% in October<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEven more alarming, underemployment has risen to 12 percent, pushing the labor underutilization rate to a troubling 17 percent. We are now on track to surpass last year\u2019s underutilization rate\u2014a clear sign that the economy is slipping, not recovering,\u201d the labor group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this is happening while the labor force participation rate continues to slide from its 2023 levels\u2014meaning more Filipinos are giving up on finding work altogether,\u201d Sentro added.<\/p>\n

The labor force participation rate this year was 63.6 percent, lower than the 64.4 percent recorded last year. Participation was also higher in 2023 at 64.9 percent and 64.7 percent in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sentro noted that most of the jobs being created were in the services sector, where \u201cmany are contractual, precarious, and low-quality.\u201d On the other hand, it lamented that \u201cmanufacturing\u2014the backbone of any growing economy\u2014is missing in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), our manufacturing hub, posted the lowest employment rate, and on a quarterly basis, manufacturing is nowhere to be found as a driver of jobs,\u201d it pointed out.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Unemployment dips at start of \u2018Ber\u2019 months<\/a><\/p>\n

For the group, the worsening labor market situation \u201cis not a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis downturn is clearly linked to the economic slowdown triggered by the flood control corruption scandal, which stalled public infrastructure and dampened domestic consumption. Corruption doesn\u2019t just steal funds\u2014it steals jobs,\u201d Sentro said.<\/p>\n

The group urged the government to pursue a \u201cwage-led growth\u201d strategy by providing wage subsidies to \u201cput purchasing power back in the hands of workers,\u201d and stressed the need for a \u201crobust public employment program\u201d to provide full employment and climate-resilient jobs.<\/p>\n

It added that the government must stop relying solely on the private sector to provide jobs, saying such an approach \u201chas repeatedly failed, especially in moments of economic downturn like the one we are now facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the private sector pulls back, the government must step in. Only the State can guarantee stable, dignified employment at scale,\u201d Sentro said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"December 11, 2025 MANILA \u2013 Labor group Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) on Wednesday expressed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,35120,46,48926,148366,2053,7460],"class_list":{"0":"post-338259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economic-affairs","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-national-affairs","14":"tag-philippine-daily-inquirer","15":"tag-philippines","16":"tag-society"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}