Note: These annual estimates were derived by taking the average of the estimates of the three quarter-rounds (January, April and July) of 2013 LFS.

Source:  National Statistics Office, 2013 Labor Force Surveys (LFS)

In 2013, the annual employment rate was estimated at 92.7 percent and the annual unemployment rate, at 7.3 percent.  Meanwhile, the underemployment rate was 19.8 percent. These annualized rates are based on the results of the quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted in 2013, that is, in January, April and July of year 2013.

The total employed persons reached approximately 38.0 million in 2013 (Table 1).  Employed persons are grouped into three major sectors, namely, agriculture, industry and services sector.  Workers in the services sector comprised the largest proportion of the population who are employed, making up 53.4 percent of the total employed.  Those engaged in the wholesale and retail trade or in the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles accounted for 34.8 percent of the total employed in this sector or 18.6 percent of the total employed. Workers in the agriculture sector comprised the second largest group (30.9%), followed by workers in the industry sector (15.7%).

Occupation-wise, the laborers remain the largest group making up 32.6 percent of the total employed. Officials of the Government and special-interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors and supervisors (16.2% of the total employed) comprised the second largest occupation group, followed by farmers, forestry workers and fishermen (13.0%), and service workers and shop/market sales workers (12.3%). 

Employed persons fall into any of these classes of workers: wage and salary workers, self-employed workers without any paid employee, employers in own family-operated farm or business, and unpaid family workers.  Wage and salary workers comprised 58.6 percent of the total employed persons, numbering approximately 22.3 million.  Among the wage and salary workers, the workers in private establishments accounted for the largest percentage (45.0%), followed by workers in government and government-controlled corporations (8.0%), workers in private households (5.2%) and workers with pay in own family-operated farms or businesses (0.4%).  Self-employed workers without any paid employee accounted for 27.9 percent of the total employed, whereas the unpaid family workers, 10.1 percent.

Employed persons are classified as either full-time workers or part-time workers.  Full-time workers are those who work for 40 hours or more in a week, while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours.  Approximately 24.5 million persons or 64.5 percent of the total employed persons worked for 40 hours or longer in a week.  Those who worked for less than 40 hours were estimated at 13.1 million or 34.4 percent of the total employed persons.  The underemployed persons or those 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 numbered approximately 7.5 million, resulting in an underemployment rate of 19.8 percent (Tables 2 and 4).  

The unemployment rate in 2013 was estimated at 7.3 percent, which translates to a number of unemployed which is approximately 3.0 million.  Of this number, 62.1 percent were males.  The largest number of the unemployed were in the age group 15 to 24 years (48.8%), followed by the age group 25 to 34 years (30.0%).  By educational attainment, one-fifth (20.0%) of the unemployed were college graduates, 13.8 percent were college undergraduates, and 32.7 percent were high school graduates. 

(Sgd.) CARMELITA N. ERICTA

                  Administrator

Technical Notes

The annual labor and employment statistics presented in this release for 2013 used the average estimates of labor and employment indicators from the three Labor Force Survey (LFS) rounds conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on a quarterly basis.  For this year, the October 2013 LFS estimates were not included in computing for the annualized estimates of labor and employment indicators for 2013 because the October estimates exclude data from Leyte which was hit by typhoon Yolanda.  The use of the average estimates of the four-quarter rounds of the LFS data was based on NSCB Resolution No. 9, Series of 2009 - Approving and Adopting the Official Methodology for Generating Annual Labor and Employment Estimates, approved on the 6^th day of July 2009. 

For 2013, the methodology for annual labor and employment estimates uses the following formula to estimate employment, unemployment, underemployment and labor force participation rates:  Z_i= ( ∑_j X_ij / ∑_j Y_kj ) x 100

where

Z_i = annual estimate for the rate of i where i refers to employment, unemployment, underemployment and labor force participation  

X_ij = estimate for the population of i for the j^thround of LFS where

i refers to employed, unemployed, underemployed and labor force, and

j refers to the three rounds of LFS: January, April and July

Y_kj= estimate for the population of k for the j^thround of LFS where

k refers to labor force, employed persons and persons 15 years old and over,  and

j refers to the three rounds of LFS: January, April and July

The official methodology was deemed the most appropriate among methodologies reviewed and evaluated for the following reasons:  a) it captures the labor and employment situation in all four quarters of the year; b) the generation or cross tabulations (e.g., by class of workers, by occupation group) is more feasible for producer of estimates; c) it is the closest method for estimating the number of persons who work four times for the entire year; and d) these estimates are being used by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its attached agencies and regional offices for planning/formulation of intervention programs.

Source:  Income and Employment Statistics Division

               Household Statistics Department

               National Statistics Office

               Manila, Philippines