Notes: ^1/ Estimates for April 2011 are preliminary and may change.
                               ^2/ Population 15 years and over is from the 2000 Census-based population projections.

The employment rate in April 2011 Labor Force Survey (LFS) was estimated at 92.8 percent, slightly higher than the figure reported in April last year at 92.0 percent.

Among the 17 administrative regions, the National Capital Region (NCR) registered the lowest employment rate of 88.4 percent. The regions that posted high employment rates in April 2011 were Zamboanga Peninsula at 96.8 percent, Cagayan Valley, 96.7 percent, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 96.3 percent, MIMAROPA, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, and SOCCSKSARGEN, each registering a rate of 96.0 percent.

Out of the estimated 61.8 million population 15 years old and over in April 2011, approximately 39.7 million were in the labor force, placing the labor force participation rate (LFPR) at 64.2 percent. Among the regions, Northern Mindanao recorded the highest LFPR at 70.6 percent while ARMM posted the lowest at 55.7 percent.

The bulk of employed persons were in the services sector comprising more than half (51.7%) of the total employed population, specifically in the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods registering at 19.7 percent of the total employed persons.

Workers in the agriculture sector accounted for the second largest industry group at 33.0 percent, with those engaged in agriculture, hunting and forestry sub-sector making up the largest sub-sector (29.0% of total employed). The industry sector registered the least share to total employed at 15.3 percent.

Among the various occupation groups, one-third or 32.7 percent of the total employed population were laborers and unskilled workers. Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen comprised the next largest group, accounting for 15.3 percent of the total employed.

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 worked without pay in own family-operated farm or business. Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government or government-controlled corporations and those who worked with pay in own family-operated farm or business. Majority of the total employed population in April 2011 were wage and salary workers, comprising 55.0 percent of the total employed, with those working for private establishments accounting for the largest percentage at 41.4 percent of the total employed. Those working for the government/government controlled corporations accounted for 8.4 percent and those working for private households, 5.0 percent. Self-employed workers without any paid employee constituted 29.6 percent of the total employed while employers in own family operated farm or business made up 3.5 percent. The unpaid family workers accounted for 11.9 percent of the total employed.

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 while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours. Around 61 percent of the total employed persons in April 2011 were working full time while 37.1 percent were part-time workers.

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 in April 2011 was estimated at 7.1 million placing the underemployment rate at 19.4 percent. About 60 percent of the total underemployed persons were working less than 40 hours during the reference week. Those working for 40 hours or more accounted for 38.2 percent of the total underemployed. The underemployed in the agriculture sector accounted for 43.4 percent of the total underemployed, those in the services sector, 39.9 percent, and those in the industry sector, 16.7 percent.

A total of 2.9 million persons were unemployed in April 2011, placing the unemployment rate at 7.2 percent, down from 8.0 percent recorded in April last year. There were more unemployed males (64.0% of total unemployed) than unemployed females (36.0% of total unemployed). By age group, five out of 10 unemployed persons were in the age group 15 to 24 years old, while three in 10 unemployed persons were in age group 25 to 34 years old. Across educational groups, most of the unemployed were high school graduates (32.6%). College undergraduates comprised 23.1 percent of the total unemployed, while the college graduates, 20.4 percent.

Technical Notes

• Starting July 2003, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) adopted the 2003 Master Sample Design, with a sample size of approximately 50,000 households.
• 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 April 2005, the new unemployment definition was adopted per NSCB Resolution Number 15 dated October 20, 2004. As indicated in the said resolution, the unemployed include all persons who are 15 years and over as of their last birthday and are reported as: (1) without work and currently available for work and seeking work; or (2) without work and currently available for work but not seeking work for the following reasons:
   

1.)  Tired/believed no work available
2.)  Awaiting results of previous job application
3.)  Temporary illness/disability
4.)  Bad weather
5.)  Waiting for rehire/job recall

• 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. The term own-account worker was dropped as sub-heading for employer and self-employed. This is to avoid confusion with the International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE) term on "own-account workers" which is synonymous to "self-employed" in the Philippine LFS.