Notes: ^1/ Estimates for October 2010 are preliminary and may change.

                                       ^2/ Population 15 years and over is from the 2000 Census-based population projections.

The employment rate or the proportion of employed persons to total labor force was recorded at 92.9 percent in October 2010. This figure was the same as the estimate in October 2009.

Among regions that posted high employment rates in October 2010 were Cagayan Valley (97.4%), Zamboanga Peninsula (97.0%), Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) (96.8%) and SOCCSKSARGEN (96.3%). The National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest employment rate at 87.4 percent.

Out of the estimated 61.2 million population 15 years old and over in October 2010, around 39.3 million persons were reported to be in the labor force. These figures placed the labor force participation rate (LFPR) in October 2010 at 64.2 percent as compared to last year?s LFPR of 64.0 percent. Among the regions, Northern Mindanao registered the highest LFPR at 70.8 percent and ARMM had the lowest at 56.3 percent.

Of the estimated 36.5 million employed persons in October 2010, more than half (51.7%) were in the services sector. The largest employed workforce in the services sector were in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods, numbering 7.2 million or 19.6 percent of total employed. Those in the agriculture sector comprised the next largest group with 33.6 percent of the total employed. Only 14.7 percent of the total employed population were in the industry sector.

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion (32.4%) of the total employed population, followed by farmers, forestry workers and fishermen with 16.2 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. Majority (54.2%) of the total employed population in October 2010 were wage and salary workers, with the largest percentage (40.4%) working for private establishments. Those working for the government/government controlled corporation accounted for only 8.1 percent. In October 2009, the wage and salary workers accounted for 53.5 percent. Own-account workers in October 2010, which include the proprietors and self-employed workers constituted 34.1 percent of the total employed with self-employed workers contributing 30.2 percent of total employed. The share of unpaid family workers to total employed was 11.7 percent in October 2010.

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. About 63.8 percent of the total employed persons were working full time in October 2010, while, 35.0 percent of total employed were part-time workers or those who worked for less than 40 hours. 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 October 2010 was estimated at 7.1 million, placing the current underemployment rate at 19.6 percent. More than half (55.5%) of the total underemployed were reported as visibly underemployed or working for less than 40 hours during the reference week. Those working for 40 hours or more accounted for 42.5 percent of the total underemployed. The largest proportion of the underemployed were working in the agriculture sector (43.0%) and services sector (40.5%). The underemployed in the industry sector accounted for 16.5 percent. 

The unemployment rate in October 2010 was estimated at 7.1 percent, which is the same as that recorded in October 2009. NCR posted the highest unemployment rate at 12.6 percent and lowest in Cagayan Valley at 2.6 percent. There were more unemployed males (63.3%) than females (36.7%). Almost half (49.3%) of the unemployed were in age group 15-24 years.

One-third (33.3%) of the unemployed were high school graduates, more than one-fifth (22.9%) were college undergraduates, while about one-fifth (19.4%) were college graduates.

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 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".. .