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Release Date :
Reference Number :
2010-143

 

Philippines    July 2010 1/       July 2009   
   Population 15 years and over (in '000) 60,934 59,513
   Labor Force Participation Rate (%) 64.0 64.6
   Employment Rate (%) 93.1 92.4
   Unemployment Rate (%) 6.9 7.6
   Underemployment Rate (%) 17.9 19.8

                     Notes: 1/ Estimates for July 2010 are preliminary and may change.
                               2/ Population 15 years and over is from the 2000 Census-based population projections.

The July 2010 Labor Force Survey (LFS) revealed an employment rate of 93.1 percent, and estimated the number of employed persons at 36.3 million. The employment rate in July last year was recorded at 92.4 percent, Among the regions, Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted the highest employment rate at 96 percent. The National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest employment rate at 89.1 percent. 

The July 2010 LFS also revealed that the size of the labor force was approximately 39.0 million out of the estimated 60.9 million population 15 years old and over. Correspondingly, these numbers translate to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.0 percent. The LFPR in July 2009 was 64.6 percent.

Of the estimated 36.3 million employed persons in July 2010, the services sector was the largest group comprising more than half (51.2%) of the total employed population. The highest employed workforce in the services sector were in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods (19.4% of the total employed). 

Workers in the agriculture sector accounted for 33.9 percent of the total employed, with those engaged in the agriculture, hunting and forestry sub-sector making up the largest sub-sector (29.9% of the total employed). Only 14.9 percent of the total employed were in the industry sector, with the manufacturing sub-sector making up the largest percentage (8.3% of the total employed). 

Among the various occupation groups, the laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest group posting 31.8 percent of the total employed population. Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen were the second largest group, accounting for 16.8 percent of the total employed.

Employed persons fall into any of these categories: wage and salary workers, own account workers and unpaid family workers. Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government or government corporations and those who work with pay in own-family operated farm or business. Wage and salary workers in July 2010 accounted for 53.2 percent of the total employed. This is lower than last year's figure of 55.3 percent. More than one-third (34.8%) of the total employed were own-account workers, while 12.0 percent were unpaid family workers. Among the wage and salary workers, those working for private establishments comprised the largest proportion (39.6% of the total employed). Government workers or those working for government corporations comprised only 8.4 percent of the total employed, while 5.0 percent were workers in private households. 

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 during the reference week while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours. The full-time workers in July 2010 recorded a share of 64.3 percent of the total employed while the part-time workers, 35.0 percent.

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 July 2010 was estimated at 6.5 million, placing the current underemployment rate at 17.9 percent. More than half (58.1%) of the total underemployed were reported as visibly underemployed or working less than 40 hours during the reference week. Those working for 40 hours or more accounted for 40.4 percent. Most of the underemployed were working in the agriculture sector (46.7%) and services sector (37.8%). The underemployed in the industry sector accounted for 15.5 percent. 

The unemployment rate in July 2010 is estimated at 6.9 percent compared to last year's estimate of 7.6 percent. The current unemployment rate of 6.9 percent placed the number of unemployed persons at approximately 2.7 million.

The number of unemployed persons was higher among males (62.6%) than among females (37.4%). More than half (52.4%) of the unemployed were in age group 15 to 24 years. About one-third (32.5%) of the unemployed were high school graduates, 22.7 percent were college undergraduates, and 20.5 percent were college graduates. 

Technical Notes

  • Starting in July 2003, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) adopted the 2003 Master Sample Design. Using this master sample design, the number of samples increased from 41,000 for LFS conducted from January 1997 to April 2003 to around 51,000 sample households for July 2003 and subsequent rounds of the LFS.

  • 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.

  • tarting 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".. 

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