Starting April 2005, the new unemployment definition was adopted in the Labor Force Survey per NSCB Resolution Number 15 dated October 20, 2004. The new definition is presented in the Technical Notes of this report. For comparative purposes, the April 2010 results are presented in textual tables alongside the final estimates for the April 2009 survey round.

Six in ten of the population 15 years and above are in the labor force

The number of persons in the labor force, or those who are either employed or unemployed, was estimated at 38.5 million out of the estimated 60.6 million population 15 years old and over in April 2010.

These numbers translate into a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 63.6 percent compared to last year's figure of 64.0 percent.

The LFPR was highest in Northern Mindanao at 71.1 percent, and lowest in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at 56.9 percent.

Employment rate registers at 92.0 percent

The employment rate in April 2010 was estimated at 92.0 percent. This placed the number of employed persons at approximately 35.4 million. In the same month last year, the employment rate was 92.5 percent.

Across regions, Zamboanga Peninsula had the highest employment rate at 96.9 percent, followed by MIMAROPA (96.0%) and Eastern Visayas Region (95.9%). The National Capital Region and CALABARZON recorded the lowest employment rate at 88.2 percent and 89.7 percent respectively (Table 1).

Employed males outnumber employed females

Six in ten (61.0%) of the employed population in April 2010 were males.

One in four (26.6%) of employed persons was in the age group 25 to 34 years.

The 35 to 44 year age group comprised the second largest group, making up 23.0 percent of the total employed, followed by the 15 to 24 age group with 19.3 percent.

More than half of the total employed are in the services sector

Of the total employed persons, more than one-half (52.0%) were in the services sector, around one-third (32.5%) were in the agriculture sector and the rest (15.5%) were in the industry sector.

Workers in agriculture, hunting and forestry sub-sector comprised the largest percentage (28.4%) of the total employed. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicle, motorcycles and personal and household goods came next registering 19.4 percent of the total employed.

Laborers and unskilled workers comprise the largest proportion of employed persons

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion (32.2%) of the total employed population. This was also the largest occupation group in April 2009 (32.5%). Farmers, forestry workers, and fishermen registered the second largest group of workers with 15.6 percent in April 2010.

Officials of the government and special interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors, and supervisors made 13.6 percent.

Wage and salary workers dominate the employed workforce

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 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. More than half (54.5%) of the total employed persons in April 2010 were wage and salary workers, most of them were working for private establishments (40.2% of the total employed). Those working for the government or government corporations accounted for 8.9 percent of the total employed.

About 30 percent of the total employed persons were self-employed with out any paid employee. Employers in own family-operated farm or business accounted for only 3.6 percent of the total employed while unpaid family workers, 11.8 percent.

Among the self-employed workers without any paid employee, those in the services (48.9%) and the agricultural (44.4%) sectors made up the largest percentage. The majority of the unpaid family workers were in the agriculture sector making up 72.3 percent of all unpaid family workers. Likewise, more than half (55.1%) of the employers in own-operated farm/business were in the agriculture sector.

Nearly two-thirds of employed persons work full time

Employed workers are classified as either full-time or part-time workers. Full time workers are those who worked for 40 hours or more while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours. More than sixty one percent of the total employed persons in April 2010 were full-time workers with those working for 40 to 48 hours making up a larger proportion (39.4% of the total employed) than those working more than 48 hours. Part-time workers comprised 36.6 percent, lower than the 41.0 percent reported in April 2009.

About one in every five employed persons desires more hours of work

Employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or an additional job, or have a new job with longer working hours are considered underemployed. The number of underemployed persons was estimated at 6.3 million in April 2010. This represented 17.8 percent of the total employed. Last year�s estimate was 6.6 million.

Forty-five percent of the underemployed were in the agricultural sector, 39.6 percent were in the services sector while those in the industry sector, 15.5 percent. Of the underemployed, those considered as visibly underemployed, or had been working for less than 40 hours a week, accounted for 58.7 percent.

Unemployment is 8.0 percent in April 2010

The number of unemployed in April 2010 was estimated at 3.1 million which translated to an unemployment rate of 8.0 percent. Among the regions, NCR and CALABARZON recorded the highest unemployment, registering a 2-digit unemployment rate of 11.8 and 10.3 percent respectively. For every ten unemployed, five (51.1%) were in the age group 15-24 years, while three (29.6%) were in the age group 25-34. Around 22.0 percent of the unemployed had attained college level, 19.6 percent were college graduates, and 31.4 percent were high school graduates.

Majority of the population who are not in the labor force belong to younger age group

More than one-third (36.4%) of the population 15 years old and over in April 2010 were not in the labor force, like housewives, persons with disability, students, and retired persons.

Majority of persons who were not in the labor force belonged to the younger age group, that is, 44.3 percent were 15 to 24 years old and 16.5 percent were 25 to 34 years old. There were seven females for every ten persons who were not in the labor force.

SUMMARY

The labor force population in April 2010 was estimated at 38.5 million. This translates to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 63.6 percent.

Total employed persons in April 2010 were approximately 35.4 million, resulting to a national employment rate of 92.0 percent.

Employed persons in the services sector comprised more than one-half (52.0%) of the total employed, 15.5 percent in the industry sector and 32.5 percent were in the agriculture sector.

Laborers and unskilled workers continued to make up the largest proportion of the employed persons as they comprised almost one-third (32.2%) of the total employed population.

Total unemployed persons numbered 3.1 million in April 2010, which translates to an unemployment rate of 8.0 percent.

Underemployment rate was estimated at 17.8 percent in April 2010.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is a nationwide quarterly survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO). For this release, the data being presented are based on the final results of the April 2010 round of the LFS.

The reference period used in the survey is the past seven (7) days preceding the date of visit of the enumerator. The number of sample households was 51,000.

The concepts and definitions used in the survey can be found in the regular NSO-ISH Bulletins. Some are given below:

a. Labor Force - population 15 years old and over who contribute to the production of goods and services in the country; it comprises the employed and unemployed

b. Employed - persons in the labor force who are reported either at work or with a job or business although not at work; persons at work are those who did some work, even for an hour during the reference period

c. Unemployed - persons in the labor force who are reported as: (1) without work; and (2) currently available for work; and (3) seeking work or not seeking work because of the belief that no work is available, or awaiting results of previous job application, or because of temporary illness or disability, bad weather or waiting for rehire or job recall

Note: The new definition of unemployed was adopted starting April 2005 per NSCB Resolution No. 15 dated October 20, 2004.

The old definition of unemployed considered only two criteria:

1) Without work and looking for work; or
2) Without work and not looking for work due to valid reasons.

d. Underemployed - employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or an additional job, or have a new job with longer working hours

e. Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) - ratio of total labor force to the total household population 15 years and over

f. Employment Rate - proportion of employed persons to the total labor force

g. Unemployment Rate - proportion of unemployed persons to the total labor force

h. Underemployment Rate - proportion of underemployed persons to total employed persons.

Starting with the July 2003 round, the LFS used the 2003 Master Sample Design. Using this new design, the number of sample households increased from 41,000 to around 51,000.

The province of Basilan is included in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao while Isabela City (Basilan) is placed 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 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."