LABOR markets around the world continue to stabilize, with the unemployment rate holding steady, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).
This stability, however, “should not be mistaken for a return to healthy labor market conditions,” ILO cautioned. “Beneath the surface, progress in job quality has stalled, inequalities remain entrenched and labor markets are increasingly exposed to global economic, demographic and technological risks that could quickly undermine current gains.”
Constantly shifting trade regulations and supply chain bottlenecks are also affecting the wages of workers in Southeast and Southern Asia, and Europe.
The UN agency said inequalities continue to hound the workplace. Women make up only two-fifths of the global workforce, and are 24.2 percent less likely than men to land jobs.
The youth are struggling to find decent work. ILO said global youth unemployment is at 12.4 percent.
The global jobs gap is projected to reach 408 million this year, revealing “a much larger level of unmet labor demand than indicated by unemployment alone.”
Equally worrying is the sharp drop in job quality. Nearly 300 million workers continue to live in extreme working poverty, and 2.1 billion workers remain in informal employment or “gig jobs.”
Figures from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) suggest that the country appears to be bucking the global trend. DOLE reported the employment rate hovered at 95.6 percent in late 2025, the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent.
It said it was constantly improving job quality by focusing on skilled and semi-skilled occupations, youth employment and enterprise support.
But a report released earlier this week by GlobalSource Partners, an international research analysis group, did not share DOLE’s rosy outlook.
In its November 2025 Labor Force Survey, GlobalSource pointed to vulnerabilities the Philippine labor market faced amid an economic slowdown and a contraction in business activity.
It said the 4.4-percent unemployment rate was actually higher than the 3 percent a year earlier.
A weaker employment growth and persistent high underemployment indicated not only job losses but prolonged income insecurity.
The steepest declines were in wholesale and retail trade and services, “sectors that traditionally absorb a large portion of the nation’s workforce,” GlobalSource said.
Severe weather disruptions and delays in public works projects impacted labor demand.
In its own Philippine labor market profile, the Danish Trade Union Development Agency (DTDA) said the wave of liberalization that improved economic quality and poverty reduction after the Covid-19 pandemic has “halted in recent years, mirrored in stymied real wage hikes.”
While the country has fared better than its neighbors in complying with international laws protecting workers’ rights, “it is stuck among the 10 worst countries in ranking for workers on the Global Rights Index, and free trade agreements do not positively influence workers’ rights.”
The relatively low unemployment rate “suggests that the economy is generating jobs but is somewhat blindsided by a still large diaspora and substantial economically inactive population,” the DTDA said.
It also echoed the ILO finding about labor market pressures stifling the youth, noting that “Filipino youth are challenged by weak political and civic participation as well as employment and opportunity.”
The group said that while “digital labor platforms have offered opportunities to earn an income,” many Filipinos risk “displacement and informalization, sidelining workers to protect labor laws.”
It cited reports that “digital labor platforms can potentially obscure the relationship between employers and workers that forms the core basis of unionization. For workers engaged in digital platform work, usually classified as independent contractors, the challenges relate to regularity of work and income, working conditions, social protection and access to the fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining.”
GlobalSource said restoring growth momentum, strengthening business and climate resilience, and honing workforce skills will help stabilize the Philippine labor market. But a more critical component is addressing corruption, weak governance and project implementation failures that are eroding business confidence.
“Hundreds of millions of workers remain trapped in poverty, informality and exclusion,” ILO Director General Gilbert Houngbo said.
Providing them with secure and decent jobs is the lifeline that can rescue them from their misery.