The current employment definition used in the LFS is presented in the Technical Notes of this report. This definition was adopted per NSCB Resolution No. 15 dated October 20, 2004. For comparative purposes, the July 2010 results are presented in the textual tables alongside with the estimates for the July 2009 survey round.

Two-thirds of the population 15 years and over are in the labor force

The July 2010 LFS registered a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 63.9 percent. The size of the labor force in July 2010 was approximately 38.9 million out of the estimated 60.9 million population 15 years old and over. The LFPR was highest in MIMAROPA at 70.3 percent and lowest in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at 55.6 percent.

Employment rate registers at 93.0 percent

The employment rate estimated for July 2010 was 93.0 percent which was not significantly different from the July 2009 rate of 92.4 percent. This implied that nine in every ten persons in the labor force were employed.

The National Capital Region recorded the lowest employment rate at 89.1 percent. Other regions with employment rates lower than the national value were Ilocos Region (91.9%), Central Luzon (91.7%) and CALABARZON (90.6%). Meanwhile, among regions with highest employment rate were Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and the ARMM with 96.0 percent each, and SOCCSKSARGEN with 95.8 percent.

Employed males outnumber employed females

Six in ten (61.1%) of the employed population in July 2010 were males.

One in four (26.6%) of employed persons was in the age group 25 to 34 years. The 35 to 44 year age group comprised the second largest group, making up 22.9 percent of the total employed, followed by the 45 to 54 age group with 17.9 percent.

More than half of the total employed are in the services sector

The estimated number of employed in July 2010 was 36.2 million. More than half (51.3%) of this number worked in the services sector with those employed in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods, comprising the largest sub-sector (19.4% of the total employed). Workers in agriculture sector accounted for 33.8 percent of the total employed, with workers in the agriculture, hunting and forestry making up the largest sub-sector (29.7% of the total employed). Only 14.9 percent of the total employed were in the industry sector.

One-third of employed population are laborers and unskilled workers

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion (31.8%) of the total employed population. Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen were the second largest group, accounting for 16.6 percent of the total employed population.

More than half of total employed are wage and salary workers

Employed persons fall into any of these three categories: wage and salary workers, own account workers and unpaid family workers. Wage and salary workers are those who work for private establishments, government or government corporations and those who work with pay in own-family operated farm or business. More than half (53.4%) of the employed persons were wage and salary workers, 30.7 percent were self-employed, 3.8 percent were employer in own family-operated farm or business and 12.0 percent were unpaid family workers. Among the wage and salary workers, those working for private establishments comprised the largest proportion (39.7% of the total employed). Government workers and those working for the government corporations comprised 8.4 percent of the total employed, while workers in private households, 5.1 percent.

Among the self-employed workers, those in the agriculture (45.2% of the self-employed) and the services (48.7%) sectors made up the largest percentage. Among the unpaid family workers seven in ten were in the agriculture sector.

Two-thirds of employed persons work full-time

Employed persons 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. Around 65.0 percent of the total employed persons in July 2010 were full-time workers with those working for 40 to 48 hours making up a larger proportion (42.9% of the total employed) than those working more than 48 hours (21.6%). Part-time workers comprised 34.7 percent of the total employed.

One in every five employed workers wants more hours of work

Employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours are considered underemployed. The number of underemployed persons was estimated at 6.5 million in July 2010. This represented 18.0 percent of the total employed. Last year�s estimate was 7.0 million.

Forty seven percent of the underemployed were in the agriculture sector, 37.8 percent were in the services sector while those in the industry sector, 15.5 percent. Of the underemployed, those considered as visibly underemployed, or had been working for less than 40 hours a week, accounted for 58.2 percent.

Unemployment rate is 7.0 percent

The unemployment rate in July 2010 was estimated at 7.0 percent. Among the regions, the highest unemployment rate was recorded in the NCR at 10.9 percent. The next highest rates were posted in CALABARZON (9.4%) and Central Luzon (8.3%).

For every 100 unemployed, 52 were in the age group 15 to 24 years, while 28 were in the age group 25 to 34.

Across educational groups, among the unemployed, high school graduates comprised one-third (32.5%), the college undergraduates comprised about one-fifth (22.7%), while the college graduates, 20.5 percent.

Seven in every ten persons not in the labor force are females

The number of persons not in the labor force like housewives, students, persons with disability, and retirees was approximately 22 million in July 2010. This number comprised 36.1 percent of the total population 15 years old and over. Seven in every ten persons who were not in the labor force were females.

By age group, the majority of those who were not in the labor force were below 35 years of age; that is, 45.6 percent were 15 to 24 years old and 16.6 percent were 25 to 34 years old.

SUMMARY

The number of persons in the labor force, or those who are either employed or unemployed was estimated at 38.9 million in July 2010, resulting to a labor force participation rate of 63.9 percent.

The national employment rate was recorded at 93.0 percent in July this year.

More than half (51.3%) of the employed persons worked in the services sector, 33.8 percent in the agricultural sector and 14.9 percent in the industry sector.

Wage and salary workers accounted for more than one-half (53.4%) of the total employed persons.

One-third of the employed population were laborers and skilled workers.

Majority (58.2%) of the total underemployed were reported to have been working for less than 40 hours a week.

The unemployment rate was estimated at 7.0 percent in July 2010.

Among regions, the highest unemployment rate was recorded in the National Capital Region at 10.9 percent.

Forty four percent of the unemployed attained high school level.

Underemployment rate was estimated at 17.9 percent in July 2010.

TECHNICAL NOTES

This Labor Force Survey (LFS) is a nationwide quarterly survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO). For this release, the data being presented are based on the final results of the July 2009 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

d. Underemployed - refers to the 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 Labor Force Survey used the 2003 Master Sample Design. Using this master sample 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 Industry Classification (PSIC) were used in classifying occupation and industry, respectively.

Starting with the January 2007 LFS round, the Population projections based on the 2000 Census of Population has been 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 "ownaccount workers" is synonymous to the category "self-employed" in the Philippines LFS.

• (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: This definition of unemployed has been adopted since the April 2005 LFS as prescribed by 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.