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 January 2008 results are presented in textual tables alongside the final estimates for the January 2007 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 36.4 million out of the estimated 57.4 million population 15 years old and over in January 2008.

These numbers translate into a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 63.4 percent compared to last years figure of 64.8 percent.

The LFPR was highest in Northern Mindanao at 69.5 percent, while lowest in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at 57.1 percent.

Employment rate registers at 92.6 percent

The number of employed persons in January 2008 was approximately 33.7 million. This placed the national employment rate at 92.6 percent. In the same month last year, the employed was estimated at 33.5 million.

Across regions, ARMM had the highest employment rate at 97.6 percent, followed by Cagayan Valley (96.5%) and Cordillera Administrative Region (96.0%). The National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the lowest employment rate at 87.5 percent (Table 1).

Employed males outnumber employed females

The employed population consisted of approximately 20.7 million males (61.3% of the total employed) and 13.0 million females (38.7%).

The largest number of employed persons was in age group 25 to 34 years, representing 26.5 percent of the total employed.

The 35 to 44 year age group comprised the second largest, making up 23.6 percent of the total employed, followed by the 15 to 24 year age group with 19.3 percent.

One-half of the total employed are in the services sector

Of the estimated 33.7 million employed persons, 16.9 million or around one-half (50.2%) were in the services sector, more than one third (35.0%) were in the agriculture sector and the rest (14.8%) were in the industry sector.

In the agriculture sector, the level of employment increased by 154 thousand persons (1.3%), from 11.6 million in January 2007 to 11.8 million in January 2008. There was an increase of 198 thousand (1.9%) in the agriculture, hunting and forestry sub-sector, while in the fishing sub-sector, there was a decrease of 45 thousand (-3.2%).

There was a minimal increase in the number of employed persons in the industry sector. All sub-sectors registered a positive employment growth except for manufacturing which decreased by some 78 thousand.

Laborers and unskilled workers comprise the largest proportion of employed persons

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion (31.6%) of the total employed population. This was also the largest occupation group in January 2007 (32.3%). Farmers, forestry workers, and fishermen registered the next largest group of workers with 18.1 percent in January 2008 and 17.6 percent in January 2007.

Officials of the government and special interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors, and supervisors made up 11.9 percent.

Wage and salary workers dominate the employed workforce

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. More than half (51.7%) of the total employed persons in January 2008 were wage and salary workers (38.2% of the total employed) mostly working for private establishments. Those working for the government or government corporations accounted for 7.9 percent.

More than one-third of the total employed persons were own-account workers numbering approximately 12.2 million. The self-employed who were estimated at 10.9 million comprised mostly this group of workers. Unpaid family workers were estimated at 4.1 million or 12.2 percent of the total employed.

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. Six in every 10 employed persons in January 2008 were full-time workers, with those working for 40 to 48 hours having the highest proportion (40.8% of the total employed). Part-time workers comprised 35.2 percent of the total employed.

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 6.4 million in January 2008. This represented 18.9 percent of the total employed. The current estimate is lower by 11.7 percent from last year�s estimate of 7.2 million.

Most of the underemployed (49.3%) were found in the agricultural sector. The underemployed in the services sector accounted for 35.8 percent while those in the industry sector, 14.9 percent. Of the underemployed, those considered as visibly underemployed, or had been working for less than 40 hours a week accounted for 61.2 percent.

Unemployment is 7.4 percent in January 2008

The number of unemployed in January 2008 was estimated at 2.7 million which translated to an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. Among the regions, NCR had the highest unemployment rate, registering a 2-digit unemployment rate of 12.5 percent. For every ten unemployed, five (49.6%) were in the age group 15-24 years, while three were in the age group 25-34. Around 39 percent of the unemployed had attained college level and 33.5 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 (36.6%) of the population 15 years old and over in January 2008 were not in the labor force, like housewives, persons with disability, students, and retired persons.

The majority of persons who were not in the labor force belonged to the younger age group, that is, 9.6 million or 45.9 percent were 15 to 24 years old and 3.5 million or 16.8 percent were 25 to 34 years old.

Females dominated those who were not in the labor force at 70.8 percent.

SUMMARY

The labor force population in January 2008 was estimated at 36.4 million. This translates to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 63.4 percent.

Total employment in January 2008 was 33.7 million, resulting to a national employment rate of 92.6 percent.

• Employed persons in the services sector reached 16.9 million. Those in the agriculture sector were estimated at 11.8 million and those in the industry sector at 5.0 million.
• Laborers and unskilled workers continued to make up the largest proportion of the employed persons as they comprised almost one-third (31.6%) of the total employed population group.

Total unemployed persons numbered 2.7 million in January 2008, which translates to an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent.

Underemployment rate was estimated at 18.9 percent of the total employed in January 2008.

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 January 2008 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:

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:

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.

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

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

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

The province of Basilan had been included in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao while Isabela City (Basilan) was 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."

Source:   National Statistics Office
                 Manila, Philippines