By Shan Kenshin Ecaldre
Cabuyao City, Laguna – Despite government claims of a “robust” and “recovering” labor market, thousands of new graduates are struggling to find stable, decent-paying jobs. Official data may show a declining unemployment rate but for young workers entering the labor force, the reality tells a different story of job insecurity, low wages, and widening inequality.
Three fresh graduates from leading state universities, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and a 2025 architecture graduate from Cavite State University (CVSU), shared their experiences navigating the job market in an interview with Bulalat. Their stories reflect a broader national crisis faced by young workers across the country.
‘Employment’ without security
Gretle Mago, a 2025 BA Filipino and Panitikan graduate from UPD, began looking for work in February, months before graduating in July 2025.
Mago entered the workforce under precarious conditions. Her first job was as a volunteer teacher, earning only P450 ($8) per day for a three-hour class once a week. She now holds a teaching position with a Salary Grade 10 plus allowances. Despite working in a field related to her degree, she noted a structural disadvantage, explaining that “it’s really a disadvantage that I don’t have education units or a teaching license because I’m not an education major.”
Her income is only “enough to cover basic needs, but that’s where all of it goes — transportation, food, household bills, and my contribution to my family.” Transportation alone consumes a large portion of her salary, and the commute from Cavite to Laguna proved difficult. “I barely save anything. Transportation takes the biggest chunk of my salary because my workplace is not commuter-friendly,” Mago said.
Eventually, Mago decided to rent a place near her workplace to reduce exhaustion and travel costs. “A big portion of my salary is already reserved for rent and for our household bills in Cavite. Sometimes it’s depressing because I never really get to hold my full salary, it’s already allocated to payments,” she said.
Youth joblessness
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), unemployment has steadily declined from 10.3% in 2020 to just 3.1% by December 2024. The government frequently uses these figures to claim that employment has largely recovered from the pandemic.
However, labor experts stressed that this decline does not reflect working conditions. PSA data from October 2024 showed that underemployment remains high at 12.3%, or about 6.1 million workers seeking more hours or better pay while nearly 40% of those employed are in informal or non-regular jobs without security and benefits.
According to IBON Foundation’s 2024 labor data analysis, most new jobs are generated in low-wage sectors like retail, construction, and manufacturing where contractualization remains widespread, keeping many employed Filipinos poor.
PSA data from July 2024 further revealed that 2.38 million unemployed Filipinos were either new graduates or new entrants to the labor force. Youth aged 15–24 accounted for 43% of the total unemployed, many of them fresh college and senior high school graduates.
A 2025 Commission on Higher Education (CHED) report and other studies also showed that joblessness among college graduates increased from 35.6% in December 2024 to 50% in June 2025. During a January 2025 job fair, only 3,364 out of 25,876 job seekers were hired, and most available jobs were low-skilled positions that did not even require a college degree.
These figures indicate that while jobs may be increasing numerically, quality, security, and suitability of employment remain deeply problematic for young Filipinos.
Job uncertainty
For Mago, prospects for a better-paying job remain uncertain. Mago said that she is not confident that she’ll “be able to get a significantly higher salary next year, especially if I continue teaching,” noting that salaries in private schools are very low.
While working full-time, Mago must also take education units and prepare for the board exam. She said that “even if I want to leave my current job, I can’t do it yet because I still have to support myself and my family.”
Reflecting on how her education prepared her for the workforce, she said it gave her knowledge but not insight into the realities of labor in the Philippines. Like many young workers, she has been unable to access government aid, citing strict qualifications she and others do not meet.
High prices also influence her choices. Mago said that “inflation has a huge effect on my work decisions,” avoiding areas with a high cost of living. As a fresh graduate, negotiating higher pay is nearly impossible. She added that even living paycheck to paycheck, she carefully weighs job decisions because “many people I know stay in low-paying work simply because they have no other choice.”
For Mago, the challenge goes beyond individual survival. She said that the solution lies in systemic reform, “This is no longer just about policy changes for fresh graduates. What’s needed is a humane wage for all Filipino workers,” adding that “if your salary is not enough for food, housing, and basic services, then there is a deep and systemic problem in society. The current conditions of work and living are inhumane.”
Low wages in ‘development’ work
Aira Angela Domingo, a BS Development Communication graduate from UP Los Baños, now works as an information communications officer for Masipag, a non-government organization. She said that her work is related to her course, but her salary barely allows her to live independently.
“My gross salary is P23,000 ($389 USD), and my take-home pay is only about P21,000($355.24 USD) after deductions for SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG. As a single person, it’s just enough.” Domingo said in an interview with Bulatlat.
Domingo is still adjusting financially and cannot yet provide regular support to her family. “I’m still fixing my budgeting. For now, I can’t regularly give financial support to my family because I’m still adjusting,” Domingo said
Domingo said that formal education did not prepare her for work. “What helped me more were the organizations I joined in college, like UPLB Perspective (a student publication).”
She stressed that rising costs make budgeting difficult, especially when trying to eat nutritious food like fruits and meat. For her, solutions must be structural. Domingo said that “systemic change is needed. Agriculture must be strengthened and national industrialization must be pursued so the country can have enough jobs and a stable economy.”
Job searching
Christine Quilloso, a 2025 architecture graduate from CVSU, has been searching for a job for nearly three months and is now considering freelance or virtual assistant work due to low wages in architecture. She relies entirely on family support, saying she depends on an allowance from her parents while her older sister covers most household expenses.
Quilloso said that she is not confident of immediately finding a decent-paying job, “Even my seniors struggle with low salaries and heavy workloads, so they constantly transfer from one company to another.”
She also highlighted the gap between academic training and real-world practice, explaining that “our training was extremely difficult, but once we left school, what we knew felt limited to textbooks.”
Rising inflation has added to her challenges. She said that transportation for walk-in applications and electricity for online submissions “already hurt,” making it hard to find a job that can keep up with living costs.
For Quilloso, government intervention is essential. She said that “the government should provide enough jobs with humane wages for graduates” and called for industries that benefit Filipinos rather than relying solely on foreign markets.
She added that wages should allow people to live decently, with job security, health benefits, and no contractualization. “We need industries that will directly benefit Filipinos, not just those that depend on foreign markets.”
“Wages should be enough to live on, without contractualization, and with adequate health benefits and job security,” Quilloso said.
Corporate profits
While graduates struggle with joblessness and low wages, corporate profits continue to rise.
SM Investments Corporation (SMIC) reported P82.6 billion ($1.397 billion USD) in net income in 2024, a 7% increase from 2023. Two years ago, it earned P77.0 billion, 25% higher than 2022. Its 2024 consolidated revenue reached P654.8 billion ($11.084 billion USD) driven by banking, property, and retail.
In its August 2024 analysis, IBON Foundation said that 89% of newly created jobs were in sectors paying below the national average daily basic pay. These include construction, retail, food services, and manufacturing, industries that offer daily wages far below the estimated P1,207 family ($20.42 USD) living wage.
Despite employment growth, IBON observed that hunger and poverty worsened in 2024, as wages failed to keep up with rising prices. Being “employed,” the group stressed, does not mean escaping poverty.
Recovery despite poverty
Though PSA data show that poverty incidence declined from 18.1% in 2021 to 15.5% in 2023, 4.84 million Filipinos remain “food poor”, unable to meet even basic nutritional needs. About 3 million families are still classified as poor nationwide.
Youth joblessness, low pay, and underemployment continue to push families deeper into economic insecurity, contradicting government claims of inclusive recovery.
IBON’s December 2025 report further warned that joblessness, informality, and stagnant wages are worsening even as the government insists that the economy “stands firm.” The group cited slowing GDP growth, shrinking agriculture and manufacturing, and the dominance of low-wage informal work as key structural problems.
The stories of Mago, Domingo, and Quilloso expose the limits of official labor statistics. While unemployment rates may be falling on paper, young workers are trapped in low wages, precarious jobs, and prolonged unemployment, with little access to government support.
For today’s graduates, employment no longer guarantees stability or dignity. Instead, it often means surviving on barely livable wages while corporate profits soar and public support remains out of reach.
“If your salary is not enough for food, housing, and basic services, then there is a deep and systemic problem in society.” Mago said.
For them, until structural reforms in wages, education, and job creation are implemented, thousands of Filipino graduates will continue to face degrees without dignity and work without security. (RTS, DAA)
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