Table A-1. Results from the October 2022 Labor Force Survey (LFS)

Highlights of the October 2022 Labor Force Survey

a. The country’s employment rate continued to pick-up to 95.5 percent in October 2022, from 95.0 percent in the previous month. The estimated employment rate this October 2022 was the highest rate recorded since January 2020 and registered to have bounced back to the pre-pandemic levels. (Table A)

In terms of level, the number of employed Filipinos in October 2022 was estimated at 47.11 million, from 43.82 million in the same period last year. In September 2022, there were 47.58 million employed persons. (Table A)

b. In October 2022, the country’s unemployment rate also fell back to pre-pandemic levels at 4.5 percent, translating to 2.24 million unemployed Filipinos. This is a decline of 1.26 million from the 3.50 million unemployed reported in October 2021, and lower by 256 thousand compared to the 2.50 million unemployed in September 2022. (Table A)

c. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in October 2022 was registered at 64.2 percent or about 49.35 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were either employed or unemployed. This LFPR was higher than the reported rate in the same month in 2021 at 62.6 percent but posted a month-on-month decrement of 732 thousand individuals from the 50.08 million reported in September 2022. (Table A)

d. The average weekly hours worked of an employed person in October 2022 increased to 40.2 hours, from 39.7 hours per week in October 2021 and from 39.6 hours in September 2022. (Table A)

e. Underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was registered at 6.67 million translating to an underemployment rate of 14.2 percent. This was lower than the reported rate in October 2021 (16.1%) and in September 2022 (15.4%). (Table A)

f. By sex, LFPR among males (74.9%) was higher compared to females (53.3%). Similarly, employment rate was slightly higher among males at 95.5 percent than their female counterpart at 95.3 percent. Moreover, underemployment rate among males (15.9%) was higher than the females (11.7%). Unemployment rate among males was placed at 4.5 percent of the 28.98 million male labor force which is lower than their female counterpart  reported at 4.7 percent of the 20.37 million total female labor force. (Table D)

g. By broad industry group, the services sector continued to dominate the employment market having the largest share of employed persons of about 59.2 percent. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 22.5 percent and 18.3 percent of the employed persons, respectively. (Tables 1 and B)

In terms of year-on-year change, the top five sub-sectors with the highest increase on the number of employed persons from October 2021 to October 2022 were the following:

a. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (672 thousand); 
b. Transportation and storage (553 thousand); 
c. Construction (426 thousand); 
d. Accommodation and food service activities (407 thousand); and 
e. Administrative and support service activities (366 thousand).

Over the same period, there were three sub-sectors that reported a decline in the number of employed persons. These sub-sectors are as follows:

a.  Agriculture and forestry (-197 thousand); 
b.  Human health and social work activities (-54 thousand); and 
c.  Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (-52 thousand).

In terms of quarter-on-quarter change, the top five sub-sectors with the highest increase on the number of employed persons from July 2022 to October 2022 were noted in the following:

a. Transportation and storage (239 thousand); 
b. Manufacturing (174 thousand); 
c. Education (108 thousand); 
d. Administrative and support service activities (102 thousand); and 
e. Construction (54 thousand).

In contrast, the top five sub-sectors with the largest decline in employment from July 2022 to October 2022 were as follows:

a. Agriculture and forestry (-511 thousand); 
b.  Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-289 thousand); 
c. Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-122 thousand); 
d.  Arts, entertainment, and recreation (-52 thousand); and 
e.  Real estate activities (-31 thousand). 
    (Table B)

h. By region, six regions registered unemployment rates higher than the national rate of 4.5 percent in October 2022, namely: Region VII (5.8%), CALABARZON (5.7%), NCR (5.6%), MIMAROPA (5.2%), Region VI (5.1%), and Region III (4.7%). (Table 4)

i. Youth LFPR was reported at 34.2 percent in October 2022. This was lower compared to the estimate in the same period last year at 35.7 percent and in the previous quarter’s 37.1 percent. Likewise, unemployment rate among youth posted a decline from 15.1 percent in October 2021 to 11.2 percent in the same month of 2022. (Table A)

The proportion of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) in October 2022 fell to 11.4 percent from 12.9 percent in July 2022 and 13.9 percent in October 2021. (Table A)

DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D. 
Undersecretary 
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

See more at the Labor Force Survey page.