PHILIPPINE LABOR FORCE SURVEY
APRIL 2000
(Preliminary Results)

SUMMARY:

• Persons aged 15 years old and over in April 2000 increased by 2.6 percent compared to last year. However, the labor force in April 2000 decreased by 1.7 percent, notably in Mindanao.

• The employed numbered 28.3 million which was down by 4.0 percent from 29.5 million last year.

• Only employment in services grew with a 3.2 percent gain from April 1999 to April 2000. It dropped by 12.7 percent in agriculture, fishery and forestry and decreased by 1.3 percent in industry.

• Underemployment rate rose to 25.1 percent (the highest so far for April since the series began in 1987) from 22.7 percent last year.

• Unemployment rate was up at 13.9 percent, the highest since the 14.4 percent rate in April 1991.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Persons aged 15 years old and over...

• Persons aged 15 years old and over increased by 2.6 percent to 49.3 million in April 2000 from 48.0 million last year.

Of the persons 15 years old and over, there were those who joined the labor force ...

• The number of persons who joined the labor force in April 2000 decreased by 1.7 percent to 32.9 million from 33.4 million in April last year. In Mindanao, those with work or looking for work declined by 4.2 percent to 7.7 million from 8.0 million last year.
• An increase of 12.4 percent or 1.8 million was noted in the number of persons not joining the labor force. These included housewives, students, disabled and retired persons.
• The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of those in the labor force to those who were aged 15 years old and over, fell by 2.9 percentage points to 66.7 percent (the lowest rate for April since the series began) from 69.6 percent in April last year.

Of the 32.9 million persons in the labor force, there were those who were employed and those who were not ...

• Along with the decrease in the number of persons in the labor force, employed persons in April 2000 also dropped by 4.0 percent to 28.3 million from 29.5 million a year ago. The corresponding employment rate decreased to 86.1 percent, the lowest since April 1991.

• On the other hand, unemployed persons increased by 15.7 percent or by 621 thousand to 4.6 million from 4.0 million last year.

Of the 28.3 million employed persons, there were those either working in agriculture, industry or services ...

• Only the services sector registered an increase in employment with a 3.2 percent growth and with own account workers contributing the biggest increment at 291 thousand.
• The agriculture, fishery and forestry sector declined both in number and proportion to total employment. The 1.5 million decrease was distributed among the unpaid family workers (930 thousand), own account workers (503 thousand) and wage and salary workers (100 thousand).
• The industry sector dropped by 62 thousand in employment levels but increased its share to total employment to 16.2 percent from 15.7 last year.

Of the 3.2 percent growth in services ...

• Community, social and personal services posted the biggest increase of 213 thousand.
• Wholesale and retail trade increased by 85 thousand rising to 4.6 million in April 2000 from 4.5 million in April. Transportation, storage and communication had an 83 thousand increase while financing, insurance, real estate and business services with a 29 thousand increase.

Of the 12.7 percent drop in agriculture, fishery and forestry ...

• About 10.6 million were working in the agriculture, fishery and forestry industry in April 2000, which was 37.3 percent of the total employed. This was lower compared to figures of 12.1 million and 41.0 percent share in April last year.

Of the 1.3 percent decrease in industry �

• Employment in industry declined to 4.57 million in April 2000 from 4.63 million a year ago. This was due to the decreases in manufacturing (38 thousand), construction (16 thousand) and electricity, gas and water (15 thousand).
• Only mining and quarrying had an increase of 7 thousand resulting to 115 thousand in April 2000 from 108 thousand last year.

Of the 28.3 million employed, there were those who were paid wages and salaries, worked on their account, or worked for the family�

• The decrease of 1.2 million in the April 2000 employment level came mostly from unpaid family workers as the number dipped by 24.1 percent to 3.4 million from 4.5 million last year, or a decrease of 1.1 million.
• Own-account workers also contributed to the decrease (218 thousand) with 10.6 million employed in April 2000 compared to 10.8 million last year.
• Meanwhile, the number of wage and salary workers expanded to 14.3 million in April 2000 increasing by 104 thousand from 14.2 million last year.
• In terms of proportion to total employment, the wage and salary workers remained on top with a 50.6 percent share compared to a 48.2 percent share. last year. Likewise, the share of own-account workers increased by 0.8 percentage point for April 2000. Only the unpaid family workers had a decline recording a 12.0 percent share in April 2000 from 15.1 percent in April 1999.

The employed by region ...

• Fifteen of the sixteen regions showed decreases in employment levels ranging from 24 thousand (for Cordillera Administrative Region) to 182 thousand (for Western Visayas).
• Marked decreases were also noted in Northern Mindanao (146 thousand), Southern Tagalog (142 thousand), and Eastern Visayas (106 thousand).
• Southern Tagalog, with 3.8 million employed, still recorded the highest share in employment level (13.3 percent) followed by National Capital Region (3.7 million employed and 13.0 percent share) and Central Luzon (2.7 million employed and 9.5 percent share).
• Twelve regions posted employment rates higher than the national employment rate of 86.1 percent. ARMM posted the highest at 93.0 percent, followed closely by Cagayan Valley with 91.5 percent. Note however that the high employment rate in ARMM and consequently its low unemployment rate occurred due to those who did not enter the labor force, particularly, persons who did not bother to look for work because of the belief that there is no work available there or the chance of finding work is low.
• Only three regions displayed increases in employment rate from April 1999 to April 2000. These were Cagayan Valley (91.5 percent from 90.5 percent), Central Luzon (87.5 from 86.6), both with one percentage point increase, and Caraga with a 0.6 percentage point increase.
• On the other hand, the biggest drop in employment rate was registered in Eastern Visayas at 9.1 percentage point, bringing down its employment rate to 80.7 percent in April 2000 from 89.8 percent in April 1999.

The employed by occupation...

• Only the agricultural occupation (agricultural, animal husbandry and forestry workers, fishermen and hunters) posted a decline of 12.7 percent to 10.4 million from its April 1999 figure of 12.0 million.
• The other occupation groups showed increased levels and share to total employment. These were clerical workers (by 72 thousand and 0.5 percent share), service workers (by 70 thousand and 0.7 percent share), professional workers (by 60 thousand and 0.5 percent share), production workers (by 59 thousand and 1.1 percent share), sales workers (by 38 thousand and 0.7 percent share) and administrative workers (by 8 thousand and 0.2 percent share).

The employed by number of hours worked ...

• The number of full-time workers or those who worked for 40 hours and over in April 2000 increased to 18.3 million from 18.0 million in April 1999. Correspondingly, its share to total employment increased to 64.5 percent from 61.2 percent.

• Those who worked for less than 40 hours decreased both in levels and proportion. In April 2000, there were 9.5 million (33.7 percent) employed who worked less than 40 hours compared to 10.8 million (36.5 percent) in April 1999.

Of the employed, there were those who desired more hours of work, the underemployed...

• The number of underemployed persons increased by 411 thousand to 7.1 million in April 2000 compared to 6.7 million last year. Its share to total employed also increased by 2.4 percentage points, from 22.7 percent to 25.1 percent (the highest recorded for April since the series begun in 1987).
• A greater proportion of underemployed persons (60.2 percent) were found working in the rural areas than in the urban areas (39.8 percent).
• More than half (54.9 percent) of the underemployed in rural areas worked for less than 40 hours. On the other hand, more than half (57.2 percent) of the underemployed in urban areas worked for 40 hours and over.

And there were those who looked for work and did not find any, the unemployed...

• For April 2000, unemployment rate was estimated at 13.9 percent, higher than 11.8 percent last year. This was the highest recorded since April 1991.
• Likewise, unemployment levels increased by 621 thousand to 4.6 million this year, increasing by 15.7 percent from 4.0 million in April last year.
• Only three regions maintained a single digit unemployment rate for April 2000. These were Cordillera Administrative Region (9.0 percent), Cagayan Valley (8.5 percent) and Muslim Mindanao (7.0 percent).
• All the other regions registered double-digit unemployment rates with Eastern Visayas at the top with 19.3 percent, followed by the National Capital Region with 18.6 percent and Western Visayas with 17.5 percent.
• Unemployment level in Eastern Visayas almost doubled with the number of unemployed reaching 347 thousand in April 2000 from 177 thousand last year.