Applicants attend a job fair in Antipolo City, March 4, 2026. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

MORE than two million Filipinos were out of work in 2025, with Calabarzon recording the highest unemployment rate among all regions due to the global geopolitical tensions and the flood control scandal, preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

Calabarzon posted an unemployment rate of 5.8% in 2025, the highest in the Philippines. In absolute terms, the region had 457,000 unemployed individuals, a 0.2% increase from 2024.

Likewise, the region recorded the lowest employment rate among all regions at 94.2%, below the national estimate of 95.8%.

Benjamin B. Velasco, an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations, said that the region was hit by the “double whammy” of a sluggish global economy and the flood control scandal.

“This led to job losses in manufacturing which particularly impacted Calabarzon due to the concentration of ecozone (economic zone) factories supplying to global supply chains,” Mr. Velasco said in a Messenger chat.

There are 64 economic zones in Calabarzon and Mimaropa as of June 30, 2024, according to data from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

The National Capital Region (NCR), Mimaropa, and Bicol Region also recorded unemployment rates above the national average at 5.2%, 4.8%, and 4.7%, respectively. These four regions exceeded the national unemployment figure in 2025.

In 2025, the Philippines’ unemployment rate climbed to 4.2%, its highest in two years or since the 4.4% posted in 2023, with 2.14 million people out of work.

Mr. Velasco said that while NCR and Calabarzon were more affected by downturns in the global economy, Mimaropa and Bicol regions were impacted by job losses in agriculture driven by climate change.

“Rains and flooding due to a lot of typhoons forced people out of farming and fishing.”

Around 10.05 million individuals were employed in the agriculture industry in 2025, the lowest in five years or since the 9.75 million in 2020, according to data from the PSA.

Meanwhile, the Cordillera Administrative Region recorded the lowest jobless rate at 2.7%, representing only 23,000 jobless individuals in the region. This was followed by Davao Region at 2.9%, and Cagayan Valley at 3.1%.

Among provinces, Basilan in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) posted the highest jobless rate at 9.1%. Camarines Norte in Bicol Region followed at 8.1%, and Lanao Del Sur, also in BARMM, at 8%.

Mr. Velasco said that rapid climate change and a sluggish global economy remain pressing challenges today.

“Moreover, the war by the US and Israel on Iran is creating an inflationary crisis. Thus, the labor market is going to get worse still.” — Pierce Oel A. Montalvo

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