Six in ten of the population 15 years old and over are in the labor force
Out of the estimated 61.8 million population 15 years old and over in April 2011, 39.7 million were reported to be in the labor force, that is, either employed or unemployed (Table 1 and Table 3). These numbers translate into a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.2 percent compared to last year's figure of 63.6 percent.
Northern Mindanao had the highest LFPR at 70.6 percent followed by Cordillera Administrative Region with 68.8 percent and MIMAROPA came in third with 68.6 percent. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) registered the lowest LFPR at 55.7 percent.
Employment rate registers at 92.8 percent
The employment rate or the proportion of employed person to total labor force in April 2011 was estimated at 92.8 percent. This placed the number of employed persons at approximately 36.8 million. In the same month last year, the employment rate was lower at 92.0 percent.
Among the regions, Zamboanga Peninsula had the highest employment rate at 96.8 percent, followed closely by Cagayan Valley (96.7%) and ARMM (96.3%). The National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the lowest employment rate at 88.4 percent, while CALABARZON with 90.0 percent and Ilocos Region with 90.2 had the next lowest rates (Table 1).
Employed males outnumber employed females
Three in five (60.8%) of the employed population in April 2011 were males.
The largest number of employed persons belonged to the age group 25 to 34 years with 26.3 percent of total employed. The 35 to 44 age group comprised the second largest group (22.9%) while the 15 to 24 age group made up the third largest group (with 19.6 percent of the 36.8 million total employed) (Table 3).
More than half of the total employed are in the services sector
Of the total employed persons, more than one-half (51.7%) were in the services sector, one-third (33.0%) were in the agriculture sector and the rest (15.3%) were in the industry sector. A similar distribution of employed population by major industry group was recorded in the April 2010 round of the LFS (Figure 4).
Workers in agriculture, hunting and forestry sub-sector comprised the largest percentage (29.0%) of the total employed. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicle, motorcycles and personal and household goods came next registering 19.7 percent of the total employed (Table 4).
Laborers and unskilled workers comprise one-third of employed persons
Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion (32.7%) of the total employed population. This was also the largest occupation group reported in April 2010 (32.2% of total employed). Farmers, forestry workers, and fishermen registered the second largest group of workers with 15.3 percent of the total employed in April 2011.
Officials of the government and special interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors, and supervisors made up 13.9 percent (Table 5).
Wage and salary workers constitute more than half of the employed workforce
Employed persons fall into any of these categories: wage and salary workers, self-employed without any paid employee, employer in own family-operated farm or business and unpaid family workers. Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government and government-controlled corporations and those who work with pay in own-family-operated farm or business. More than half (55.0%) of the total employed persons in April 2011 were wage and salary workers. In the same month last year, the proportion was 54.5 percent. Those working for private establishments made up 41.4 percent of the total employed and those working for the government and government-controlled corporations accounted for 8.4 percent.
About 30 percent of the total employed persons were self-employed without any paid employee. Those who worked without pay in own family-operated farm or business accounted for 11.9 percent while employers in own family-operated farm or business accounted for only 3.5 percent of the total employed (Table 6).
Among the self-employed workers without any paid employee, those in the services sector (49.7%) made up the largest percentage followed by those in the agricultural (43.8%) sector. The majority of the unpaid family workers were in the agriculture sector making up 70.2 percent of the total unpaid family workers. Among the employers in own family-operated farm/business, more than half (58.8%) were in the agriculture sector (Table 7).
Six in ten of employed persons work full time
Employed workers are classified as either full-time or part-time workers. Full time workers are those who work for 40 hours or more while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours. Sixty-one percent of the total employed persons in April 2011 were full-time workers with those working for 40 to 48 hours making up a larger proportion (39.8% of the total employed) than those working more than 48 hours (21.3%). Part-time workers comprised 37.1 percent, higher than the 36.6 percent reported in April 2010 (Table 8).
One in every five employed persons desires more hours of work
Employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or an additional job, or have a new job with longer working hours are considered underemployed. The number of underemployed persons was estimated at 7.1 million in April 2011. This represented 19.4 percent of the total employed. Last year�s estimate was 6.3 million.
Forty-three percent of the underemployed were in the agricultural sector, about forty percent were in the services sector while those in the industry sector, 16.7 percent. Of the underemployed, those considered as visibly underemployed, or had been working for less than 40 hours a week, accounted for 59.5 percent. The LFS conducted in the same month last year also revealed that the largest percentage of the underemployed was in the agriculture sector (44.9% of all underemployed) and the second largest were those in the services sector 39.6% (Table 9).
Unemployment rate is 7.2 percent in April 2011
The number of unemployed in April 2011 was estimated at 2.9 million which translated to an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent. For every ten unemployed, five were in the age group 15-24 years, while three were in the age group 25-34. Around 23 percent of the unemployed had attained college level, 20.4 percent were college graduates, and 32.6 percent were high school graduates (Table 10). Among the regions, only NCR and CALABARZON recorded a 2-digit unemployment rate of 11.6 and 10.0 percent, respectively.
Majority of population who are not in the labor force belong to younger age group
More than one-third (35.8%) of the population 15 years old and over in April 2011 were not in the labor force, like housewives, persons with disability, students, and retired persons.
Forty-five percent of those who were not in the labor force belonged to the youngest age group, that is, age group 15 to 24 years. There were seven females for every ten persons who were not in the labor force (Table 3).
SUMMARY
The labor force population in April 2011 was estimated at 39.7 million. This translates to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.2 percent.
Total employed persons in April 2011 were approximately 36.8 million, resulting to a national employment rate of 92.8 percent.
More than half (51.7%) of the total employed were in the services sector, 15.3 percent were in the industry sector, and 33.0 percent were in the agriculture sector.
Laborers and unskilled workers continued to make up the largest proportion of the employed persons as they comprised about one-third (32.7%) of the total employed population.
Total unemployed persons numbered 2.9 million in April 2011, which translates to an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent.
Underemployment rate was estimated at 19.4 percent in April 2011.
TECHNICAL NOTES
The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is a nationwide survey conducted quarterly by the National Statistics Office (NSO). For this release, the data being presented are based on the final results of the April 2011 round of the LFS.
The reference period used in the survey is the past seven (7) days preceding the date of visit of the enumerator. The number of sample households was 51,000.
The concepts and definitions used in the survey can be found in the regular NSO-ISH Bulletins. Some are given below:
a. Labor Force refers to the population 15 years old and over who contribute to the production of goods and services in the country. It comprises the employed and unemployed.
b. Employed refers to persons in the labor force who are reported either as at work or with a job or business although not at work. Persons at work are those who did some work, even for an hour during the reference period.
c. Unemployed refers to persons in the labor force who are reported as: (1) without work; and (2) currently available for work; and (3) seeking work or not seeking work because of the belief that no work is available, or awaiting results of previous job application, or because of temporary illness or disability, bad weather or waiting for rehire or job recall.
Note: The new definition of unemployed was adopted starting April 2005 per NSCB Resolution No. 15 dated October 20, 2004.
The old definition of unemployed considered only two criteria:
1) Without work and looking for work; or
2) Without work and not looking for work due to valid reasons.
d. Underemployed refers to employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or an additional job, or have a new job with longer working hours.
e. Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) - proportion of total labor force to the total household population 15 years and over
f. Employment Rate - proportion of employed persons to the total labor force
g. Unemployment Rate - proportion of unemployed persons to the total labor force
h. Underemployment Rate - proportion of underemployed persons to total employed persons.
Starting with the July 2003 round, the LFS used the 2003 Master Sample Design. Using this design, the number of sample households is around 51,000 households.
The province of Basilan is included in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao while Isabela City (Basilan) is placed under Region IX, in accordance with Executive Order No. 36.
The 1992 four-digit code for Philippine Standard Occupational Classification (PSOC) and 1994 Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC) were used in classifying the occupation and industry.
Starting with the January 2007 LFS round, the population projections based on the 2000 Census of Population was adopted to generate the labor force statistics. This is in compliance with NSCB Resolution No. 1 series of 2005 entitled "Adoption of the Methodology Used in Generating the 2000 Census of Population and Housing-Based National Population Projections."
Starting with the January 2010 LFS round, a revised nomenclature on class of worker was adopted. In the reports on previous rounds of LFS, particularly in the statistical tables on employed persons by class of worker, the self-employed and employer in own family-operated farm or business were classified as own-account workers. For the same statistical table in this report, the term own-account worker no longer appears as heading for employer and self-employed to avoid confusion. In the International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE), the term "own-account worker" is synonymous to the category "self-employed" in the Philippines LFS.
