The employment rate in April 2008, or the proportion of employed persons to total labor force was estimated at 92.0 percent, almost the same as the percentage recorded in April 2007 at 92.6 percent

Two regions registered a high employment rate, with 97 for every 100 of their labor force reported as employed in April 2008. These are Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) (97.0%) and Zamboanga Peninsula (96.6%). The National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest employment rate at 86.2 percent.

Of the estimated 57.7 million population 15 years and over in April 2008, 36.4 million were in the labor force. This placed the labor force participation rate at 63.2 percent, lower than last year's rate of 64.5 percent.

The total employed population in April 2008 was registered at 33.5 million. Almost half (49.6%) of the employed were in the services sector, 35.5 percent in the agriculture sector and 14.9 percent in the industry sector.

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest group, making up 32.6 percent of the total employed population in April 2008. Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen ranked second with 17.3 percent share of the total employed population.

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. Of the total 33.5 million employed persons in April 2008, more than half (52.8%) were wage and salary workers mostly working for private establishments (39.5% of the total employed). Those working for the government or government corporations accounted for 8.0 percent of the total employed and 4.7 percent were workers in private households. More than one-third (34.7%) of the total employed persons were own-account workers, with self-employed workers registering the highest share (30.1% of the total employed). Unpaid family workers were estimated with 12.5 percent share.

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. In April 2008, six in every 10 employed persons were working for 40 hours or more, with those working for 40 to 48 hours having the highest proportion (38.7% of the total employed). Part-time workers comprised 35.7 percent of the total employed.

Employed persons who want or desire additional hours of work are considered underemployed. The number of underemployed persons in April 2008 was estimated at 6.6 million or 19.8 percent of total employed, higher than last year's share of 18.9 percent. The underemployed were found mostly in the agriculture sector, registering at 46.0 percent. Underemployed persons in the services sector accounted for 38.5 percent while those in the industry sector, 15.5 percent. About 57.5 percent of the underemployed were part-time workers or had been working for less than 40 hours a week.

The number of unemployed persons in April 2008 was reported at 2.9 million, placing the unemployment rate at 8.0 percent. Three regions recorded double-digit unemployment rates with NCR registering the highest at 13.8 percent. The two other regions were CALABARZON (10.3%) and Central Luzon (10.0%).

The proportion of males among unemployed (62.5%) was higher than that of females (37.5%). For every ten unemployed, five (51.2%) were in the age group 15-24 years while three were in the age group 25-34.

Among unemployed persons, those who had attained high school level comprised 45.3 percent, of which 32.0 percent of the total unemployed were high school graduates. About 40.0 percent of the total unemployed had reached college level and 14.0 percent attained elementary level.

(Sgd.) CARMELITA N. ERICTA

Administrator

Technical Notes

• Starting with the July 2003 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS), the generation of the labor force and employment statistics 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 province of Basilan became part of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao while Isabela City (Basilan) is under Region IX, in accordance with Executive Order No. 36.
• 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".

Source:        Income and Employment Statistics Division

Household Statistics Department

National Statistics Office

Manila, Philippines

Page last revised: June 17, 2008