Table A-1. Key Labor and Employment Indicators                 
2019^f-April 2023^p

Notes:                 
^f Estimates are final                 
^p Estimates are preliminary and may change                 
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, Labor Force Survey

Highlights of the April 2023 Labor Force Survey

1. The country’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.5 percent in April 2023, from 5.7 percent in the same month last year.  In January 2023, unemployment rate was posted at 4.8 percent. In terms of level, the number of unemployed persons in April 2023 was estimated at 2.26 million, indicating a decline of 506.20 thousand from the 2.76 million unemployed persons in April 2022. (Tables A and A-1)

2. The employment rate in April 2023 was posted at 95.5 percent. This was higher than the estimates in April 2022 (94.3%) and January 2023 (95.2%). In terms of magnitude, the number of employed persons rose to 48.06 million in April 2023, from 45.63 million in the same period of 2022. The number of employed persons in April 2023 was also higher than the reported 47.35 million employed persons in January 2023. (Tables A and A-1)

3. The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) increased to 65.1 percent in April 2023 or about 50.31 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were either employed or unemployed. The reported LFPR in April 2023 was higher than the reported rate of 63.4 percent in April 2022 and 64.5 percent in January 2023. (Tables A and A-1)

4. The number of underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have an additional hour of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was registered at 6.20 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 12.9 percent. This was lower than the reported rate in April 2022 (14.0%) and January 2023 (14.1%). (Tables A and A-1)

5. By sex, LFPR among males (75.4%) was higher compared to females (54.7%). Employment rate was higher among females at 96.0 percent than their male counterparts at 95.2 percent. Underemployment rate among males was higher (14.6%) than for females (10.6%). Unemployment rate for males was registered at 4.8 percent of the 29.27 million males in the labor force, while 4.0 percent of the 21.04 million females in the labor force were unemployed in April 2023. (Table D)

6. By broad industry group, the services sector continued to dominate the labor market having the largest share of employed persons of about 61.1 percent of the total employed persons in April 2023. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 21.9 percent and 17.0 percent, respectively. (Table 1)

The year-on-year gain in employment was driven by the services sector. The top five sub-sectors with the highest increase on the number of employed persons from April 2022 to April 2023 were the following:

a. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (914 thousand);                 
b. Accommodation and food service activities (379 thousand);                 
c. Administrative and support service activities (345 thousand);                 
d. Transportation and storage (321 thousand); and                 
e. Other service activities (242 thousand).

Over the same period, the five sub-sectors with annual declines in employment were as follows:

a. Agriculture and forestry (-290 thousand);                 
b. Manufacturing (-204 thousand);                 
c. Construction (-65 thousand);                 
d. Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (-18 thousand); and                 
e. Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies (-3 thousand).

For quarter-on-quarter change, the top five subsectors with the highest increase in the number of employed persons from January 2023 to April 2023 were  the following:

a. Construction (301 thousand);                 
b. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (183 thousand);                 
c. Human health and social work activities (125 thousand);                 
d. Other service activities (97 thousand); and                 
e. Education (83 thousand).

On the other hand, the following sub-sectors reported a quarterly decline in the number of employed persons:

a. Manufacturing (-225 thousand);                 
b. Information and communication (-66 thousand);                 
c. Transportation and storage (-18 thousand);                 
d. Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (-17 thousand); and                 
e. Agriculture and Forestry (-10 thousand);                 
f. Real Estate Activities (-5 thousand); and                 
g. Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies (-1 thousand).                 
(Table B)

7. Wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 61.5 percent of the total employed persons in April 2023. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.5 percent and unpaid family workers at 8.5 percent. Employer in own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 2.5 percent.

Among wage and salary workers, employed persons in private establishments made up 47.6 percent of the total employed, followed by employed in government or government-controlled corporations with 9.2 percent share. (Table 1)

8. On average, employed persons worked 36.9 hours per week, a drop from the recorded 40.1 hours per week average hours worked in April 2022 and 39.6 hours per week in January 2023. (Table 2)

9. Across regions, Region II posted the highest employment rate of 97.6 percent. This was followed by Cordillera Administrative Region (97.3%), Region IX (97.3%), MIMAROPA (97.1%), and Region XIII (97.0%). (Table 4)

10. Unemployment rate at the regional level showed that five of the 17 regions posted an unemployment rate higher than the national rate of 4.5 percent in April 2023, namely, Region IV-A (5.5%), National Capital Region (5.3%), Region X (5.3%), Region VII (5.2%), and Region III (4.7%). (Table 4)

11. Youth employment rate in April 2023 was higher at 90.0 percent compared with the employment rate recorded in April 2022 (87.7%) and January 2023 (89.2%). On average, employed youth worked for 30.7 hours per week in April 2023. (Table A)

The proportion of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in April 2023 was estimated at 10.3 percent, a decline from 11.9 percent in April last year and 11.5 percent in January 2023. (Table A)

(Sgd.) CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, PhD                 
Undersecretary                 
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General                 
 

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