PHILIPPINE LABOR FORCE SURVEY
JULY 2000
(Preliminary Results)

SUMMARY:

• Labor force in July 2000 declined by a slight 25 thousand or 0.1% compared to July last year.
• Employed persons decreased by 877 thousand or 3.0%, to 28.2 million this year from 29.1 million last year.
• Agriculture employment fell by 10.1 percent to 10.6 million from 11.8 million a year ago.
• The employed in industry decreased by 1.8 percent.
• Services employment rose by 3.0 percent to 13.1 million in July 2000 from 12.8 million July 1999
• Unemployment rate was up at 11.1% from 8.4% last year.
• Underemployment rate, however, moved down to 21.4% from 22.3% a year ago.

HIGHLIGHTS

Persons aged 15 years old and over...

• Persons aged 15 years old and over reached 49.6 million in July 2000, increasing by 2.6% from 48.3 million a year earlier.

Of the 49.6 million persons 15 years old and over, there were those who joined the labor force...

• The labor force population in July 2000 decreased slightly by 0.1 percent to 31.69 million from 31.71 million last year.
• Those who were not in the labor force, like housewives, students, disabled and retired persons numbered 17.9 million up from 16.6 million a year ago.
• The labor force participation rate decreased by 1.7 percentage points from 65.6 percent in July 1999 to 63.9 percent (the lowest for the July survey rounds) in July 2000.

Of the 31.7 million persons in the labor force, there were those who were employed and those who were not...

• The number of employed persons in July 2000 fell to 28.2 million, down by 3.0 percent from 29.1 million in July 1999.
• Correspondingly, the employment rate dropped by 2.7 percentage points to 88.9 percent from 91.6 percent last year. This was the lowest registered so far for the July survey rounds.
• The decrease in employment resulted to a 32.1% increase in unemployment levels, the highest so far for the July survey rounds. The number of unemployed persons increased to 3.5 million in July 2000 compared with 2.7 million in July 1999.

Of the 28.2 million persons employed, there were those either working in agriculture, industry or services...

• Only the services sector experienced growth in employment levels during the reference quarter. The number rose by 3.0% to 13.1 million in July 2000 from 12.8 million last year.
• The agriculture sector continued to decline in July 2000. The number of employed in this sector was estimated at 10.6 million, a 10.1 percent decrease from 11.8 million last year. Its share to total employed declined by 3.0 percentage points, from 40.5 percent to 37.5 percent.
• The industry sector declined by 82 thousand with all classes of workers contributing to the decrease in employment. However its share to total employment slightly increased by 0.2 percentage points, from 15.6 percent to 15.8 percent in July 2000.

Of the 3.0 percent growth in services...

• The combined wage and salary and own-account workers in the services sector contributed the biggest increase in employment levels at 469 thousand although unpaid family workers declined by 81 thousand.
• The community, social and personal services posted more than half (55.3%) of the total increase in employment of 385 thousand in the services sector.
• Transportation, storage and communication services came next with a 104 thousand increase and wholesale and retail trade with a 93 thousand increase.
• Among the services group, only the financing, insurance, real estate and business services reported a fall in employment level with a 25 thousand decrease.

Of the 10.1 percent drop in agriculture, fishery and industry...

• The 1.2 million decline was attributable to decreases among unpaid family workers (735 thousand) and own-account workers (550 thousand). Wage and salary workers in this sector increased by 97 thousand (3.7%).

Of the 1.8 percent decrease in industry...

• Employment in industry sector declined by 1.8 percent as a result of decreases in employment in construction (37 thousand), manufacturing (34 thousand), and electricity, gas and water (20 thousand).
• Only mining and quarrying reported an increase in employment level of 9.2 percent from 98 thousand to 107 thousand in July 2000.

Of the 28.2 million employed, there were those who were paid wages and salaries, worked on their account, or worked for the family...

• The unpaid family workers in agriculture contributed mostly to the decrease in the July 2000 employment level which dropped by 20.3 percent to 3.3 million from 4.1 million last year.
• Own-account workers came next with 500 thousand decrease in employment, from 10.9 million last July 1999 to 10.4 million this year. These were mostly in agriculture.
• Wage and salary workers, however, increased both in number and proportion to total employment. The number expanded to 14.5 million in July 2000, increasing by 450 thousand from 14.0 million last year. Their proportion to total employment was registered at 51.4 percent from 48.3 percent last year.

The employed by region...

• All of the sixteen regions except for Ilocos showed decreases in employment levels with Central Luzon posting the highest decrease of 148 thousand followed by Northern Mindanao at 108 thousand and Southern Mindanao at 107 thousand.
• Cordillera Administrative Region registered the least decrease in employment at 11 thousand and Muslim Mindanao ranked next at 14 thousand.
• Only the Ilocos Region posted an increase of seven thousand in employment levels.
• All regions posted declines in employment rate from July 1999 to July 2000. Central Mindanao registered the highest decrease of 5.0 percentage points from 94.7 percent in July 1999 to 89.7 percent in July 2000. Central Luzon was next with a decrease of 4.2 percentage points from 90.7 percent to 86.5 percent this year.

The employed by number of hours worked...

• The number of full-time workers increased by 941 thousand from 18.4 million in July 1999 to 19.3 million this year. Its share to total employed also increased from 63.2 percent to 68.5 percent.
• Those who worked for less than 40 hours decreased both in levels and proportion to total employment. The estimate of 10.4 million (with a share of 35.8%) decreased to 8.6 million (with a share of 30.6%).

The employed by occupation...

• Except for the professional, technical and related workers and agricultural, animal husbandry and forestry workers which showed decreases in employment levels, all other groups showed increases in employment levels with production and related workers posting the highest increment of 179 thousand.
• The other groups that posted increases were sales workers (73 thousand), service workers (62 thousand), administrative workers (39 thousand) and clerical workers (6 thousand).

Of the employed, there were those who desired more hours of work, the underemployed...

• The number of underemployed persons or those who desired additional hours of work decreased by 449 thousand to 6.0 million in July 2000 from 6.5 million a year ago. Its share to total employed decreased by 0.9 percentage point from 22.3 percent to 21.4 percent.
• Most of the underemployed persons were found mostly in rural areas comprising about 59.1 percent of the total underemployed.
• Around 54.5 percent of the underemployed in rural areas worked for less than 40 hours while 61.9 percent of the underemployed in urban areas worked for 40 hours and over.

And there were those who looked for work and did not find any, the unemployed...

• In July 2000, the unemployment rate was estimated at 11.1 percent, increasing by 2.7 percentage points from 8.4 percent last year.
• Likewise, unemployment levels increased by 32.1 percent to 3.5 million in July 2000 from 2.7 million in July 1999.
• Seven regions posted double-digit unemployment rates with Metro Manila posting the highest unemployment rate of 17.3 percent. It was followed by Central Luzon (13.5%), Southern Tagalog (11.8%), Ilocos (10.5%), Western Visayas (10.4%), Central Mindanao (10.3%), and Central Visayas (10.2%).