Results from the July 2019 Labor Force Survey (LFS)

The employment rate in July 2019 was estimated at 94.6 percent. In July 2018, the employment rate was the same at 94.6 percent.

The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in July 2019 was estimated at 62.1 percent given the population 15 years old and over of 73.1 million.  The LFPR in July 2018 was 60.1 percent.  The labor force population consists of the employed and the unemployed 15 years old and over.

Workers were grouped into three broad sectors, namely, agriculture, industry and services sector.  Workers  in  the  services sector comprised the largest proportion of the employed population. These workers made up 57.8 percent of the total employed in July 2019(Table 1).  Those engaged in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles accounted for the largest percentage (34.8%) of workers in the services sector (Table 2).  In July 2018, workers in the services sector accounted for 57.5 percent of the total employed, with 33.4 percent were engaged in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (Tables 1 and 2).

Workers in the agriculture sector comprised the second largest group making up 23.5 percent of the total employed in July 2019, while workers in the industry sector made up the smallest group registering 18.7 percent of the total employed.  In July 2018, workers in the agriculture sector accounted for 23.1 percent and  19.4 percent were in the  industry sector.  The July 2019 LFS results also showed that in the industry sector, workers in the construction and manufacturing subsectors made up the largest groups, accounting for 50.2 percent  and 45.6 percent  of  the workers in these subsectors,  respectively  (Tables 1 and 2).

Among the occupation groups, workers in elementary occupations remained the largest group at 27.6 percent of the total employed in July 2019 while it was 26.7 percent in July 2018(Table 1).  Service and sales workers comprised the second largest  occupation group (18.8%),  followed by skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers (12.0%), and managers (11.0%) in July 2019.

Employed persons fall into any of these categories: (1) wage and salary workers,   (2) self-employed workers without any paid employee, (3) employers in own family-operated farm or business, and (4) unpaid family workers.  Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government or government-controlled corporations, and those who work with pay in own family-operated farm or business.  In July 2019,  the wage and salary workers made up 63.4 percent of the total employed, with those working in private establishments continuing to account for the largest share (Table 1).  They made up 49.7 percent of the total employed in July 2019 and 51.0 percent in July 2018.  Self-employed workers made up 27.3 percent of the total employed in July 2019and 26.2 percent in July 2018. Unpaid family workers were accounted for 6.4 percent of the total employed in July 2019and 4.6 percent of the total employed in July 2018.

Employed persons are classified as either full-time workers or part-time workers.  Full-time workers refer to those who worked for 40 hours or more during the reference week,  while  those  who  worked  for less  than 40  hours were considered part-time workers.  Of the total employed persons, in July 2019, 67.4 percent were full-time workers, while 31.8 percent were part-time workers (Table 2).

By comparison, in July 2018, full-time workers comprised 71.3 percent while part-time workers, 28.2 percent.  In July 2019, workers worked 41.6 hours per week, on average, while in July 2018, the mean hours worked per week was 43.0.

By definition, employed persons who expressed 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.  In July 2019, the underemployment rate, which is the percentage of the underemployed to the total employed, was estimated at 13.9 percent(Table 4).  In July 2018, the underemployment rate was 17.2 percent.

Underemployed persons who worked for less than 40 hours in a week are called visibly underemployed persons. They accounted for 62.3 percent of the total underemployed in July 2019and 47.1 percent in July 2018(Table 3). By comparison, the underemployed persons who  worked  for 40 hours  or more in a week in July 2019 made up 37.7 percent.  By sector, 46.4 percent of the underemployed worked in the services sector, while 34.6 percent were in the agriculture sector.  Those in the industry sector accounted for 19.0 percent (Table 3).

Regions with lowest employment rates were Region IV-A (CALABARZON) (92.8%),National Capital Region (NCR) (93.9%),Region VII (Central Visayas) (94.0%), and Region VI (Western Visayas) (94.1%) (Table 4).

The unemployment rate in July 2019 was estimated at 5.4 percent.  The same unemployment rate was registered in July 2018.

Among the unemployed persons in July 2019,  60.6 percent were males.  Of the total unemployed, the age group 15 to 24 years comprised 45.5 percent, while the age group 25 to 34, 33.2 percent. By educational attainment, 30.2 percent of the unemployed were college graduates, 8.0 percent were college undergraduates, and 25.2 percent have completed junior high school (Table 3).  Graduates of junior high school includes those high school graduates in the old curriculum.

Among the regions, CALABARZON (7.2%),National Capital Region (6.1%), Central Visayas (6.0%) and Western Visayas  (5.9%), were the regions with the highest unemployment rates (Table 4).

Youth  Population and Labor Participation

The July 2019 Labor Force Participation Rate of youth (15-24 years old) in the country was estimated at 38.3 percent given the total youth population of 20.0 million. In July 2018, labor force participation of youth was 36.8 percent (Table A).

Of the total employed persons 15 years old and over,15.3 percent were youth (15-24 years old).  In July 2018, the proportion was reported at 15.5 percent. Of the employed youth (15-24 years old) in July 2019,  1.8 percent  were underemployed.

In July 2019, an estimated 1.1 million of youth were unemployed out of the  7.7 million in the youth labor force population  or those who are either employed or unemployed. This numbers translate into an unemployment rate of 14.4 percent.  The youth unemployment rate in July 2018 was 14.1 percent(Table A).

There were 18.7 percent of youth  who were Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) in July 2019.  It was higher in July 2018 at 21.3 percent (Table A).

The proportion of youth (15-24 years old) who were new entrants to the labor force was estimated at 13.1 percent, while in July 2018, youth new entrants was 18.0 percent (Table A).

The employed youth (15-24 years old) in July 2019 worked on an average of 38.7 hours per week while in July 2018, they worked 41.3 hours, on the average per week (Table A).

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

Technical Notes

• 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 looking for work; or (2) without work and currently available for work but not looking for work due to 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 January 2012 LFS, the codes for industry adopted the 2009 Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC).  Prior to this, codes for industry used the 1994 PSIC.

• Question on vocational course was introduced in the January 2012 LFS questionnaire.

• Starting April 2016 round, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) adopted the 2013 Master Sample Design, with a sample size of approximately 44,000 households.

• The 2012 Philippine Standard Occupational Classification (PSOC) was adopted starting April 2016.  The 1992 PSOC had been used prior to April 2016.

• Starting  with  the April 2016 LFS round, the  population  projections  based  on  the  2010 Census of Population and Housing(2010 CPH) has been adopted to generate the labor force statistics.

• In July 2016, the 2008 Philippine Standard Classification of Education (PSCED) that was used in the 2015 Population Census(2015 POPCEN) has been adopted.  The categories for highest grade completed were also revised considering the K to 12 program in the education system.

• In January 2017 round,Computer Aided Personal Interviewing(CAPI) using Tablet was utilized in the LFS enumeration.

• Overseas Filipino Workers are not considered part of the labor force in the Philippines.  Hence, in the LFS, data on economic characteristics of household members who are overseas workers are not collected.  For the LFS reports, they are excluded in the estimation of the size of working population, that is, population aged 15 years and older, and in the estimation of the labor force.

See more at the Labor Force Survey main page.