Behind the Marcos regime’s rosy pronouncements about the state of the economy, problems of sluggish growth, joblessness, and inflation persist.

The Marcos regime is expected to fail in meeting its ambitious target of 6%-8% gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2025, even after figures were revised to 5.5%-6.5% in June 2025. The average growth in the first three quarters reached only 5%, with GDP growth slowing to 4% in the third quarter. By the end of 2025, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development itself admitted that GDP might grow by only 4.8%-5.0% for the entire year. This is slower than the 5.6% rate recorded for 2024.

The regime blamed the slowdown on the corruption scandal from the exposed in flood control projects, particularly for the third quarter. But according to Ibon Foundation, the downward GDP trend began long before the outrage over corruption erupted; in fact, it started as early as 2017. The seeming increase in GDP growth reflected only a rebound after the sharp decline in production and the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Employment rates have fallen, Ibon reported. In November 2025, 277,000 workers lost their jobs. Even in the state’s heavily under-estimated data, the official unemployment rate rose from 3.2% to 4.4%. The real unemployment rate is far higher if the 3.52 million “unpaid family workers” and millions of workers failing to find jobs are included. Worse, 62% of those the state counts as “employed” are in irregular work in sectors like agriculture, retail, and services.

Despite the decline in inflation, Filipinos remain mired in poverty. Many continue to describe themselves as poor, with 63% self-identifying as “vulnerable.”

“Because joblessness worsened, easing inflation has not prevented millions more Filipinos from becoming poor and hungry since the Marcos Jr administration came to power,” Ibon said.

There were no meaningful job gains, and people’s income did not rise enough for them to feel the slower inflation, it added.

“Jobs need to be anchored in expanding formal enterprises and rising productivity to reduce poverty,” Ibon concluded.