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

Highlights of the December 2022 Labor Force Survey

1. The country’s unemployment rate in December 2022 was estimated at 4.3 percent, the second lowest since April 2005, following the 4.2 percent in November 2022. The unemployment rate in December 2022 was lower than the unemployment rate in the same month last year at 6.6 percent. (Table A)

2. In terms of magnitude, the total number of unemployed persons 15 years old and over increased by 43 thousand, from 2.18 million in November 2022 to  2.22 million in December 2022. (Table A)

3. Employment rate in the country in December 2022 was estimated at 95.7 percent, lower than the reported employment rate in November 2022 at 95.8 percent but higher than the 93.4 percent employment rate reported in December 2021. The employment rate of 95.7 percent translates to 49.00 million employed Filipinos 15 years old and over in December 2022. (Table A)

4. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in December 2022 was posted at 66.4 percent, equivalent to 51.22 million individuals in the labor force. The LFPR in December 2022 was lower than the reported rate in November 2022 posted at 67.5 percent but higher than the LFPR in December last year at 65.1 percent. (Table A)

5. The average weekly hours worked by an employed person in December 2022 increased to 40.3, from 39.3 and 39.7 hours per week in November 2022 and December 2021, respectively. (Table A)

6. Underemployment rate in December 2022 slid to 12.6 percent from 14.4 percent in November 2022. This was lower than the reported rate in the same period in 2021 at 14.7 percent. (Table A)

7. In terms of magnitude, about 6.20 million of employed persons expressed 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 hours of work in December 2022. (Table A)

8. Among men and women, the LFPR has been consistently higher among men than women. LFPR for men in December 2022 was 76.7 percent while LFPR was 56.0 percent among women. Employment rate among men was likewise higher at 96.1 percent than women at 95.1 percent. Moreover, men had higher underemployment rate at 13.9 percent than women at 10.9 percent. (Table D)

9. By broad industry group, the services sector continued to lead all sectors having the largest share of employed persons with 58.9 percent of the total employed persons in December 2022. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 24.0 percent and 17.1 percent of the total employed persons, respectively. (Table 1)

The following are the top five sub-sectors with the highest month-on-month increase in the number of employed in December 2022:

a. Agriculture and forestry (829 thousand);         
b. Fishing and aquaculture (291 thousand);         
c. Administrative and support service activities (257 thousand);         
d. Construction (138 thousand); and         
e. Other service activities (123 thousand).

On the other hand, the top five sub-sectors with the highest drop in the number of employed persons from November 2022 to December 2022 were as follows:

a. Manufacturing (-585 thousand);         
b. Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-387 thousand);         
c. Accommodation and food service activities (-240 thousand);         
d. Human health and social work activities (-239 thousand); and         
e. Real estate activities (-168 thousand).

In terms of year-on-year change in the number of employed persons in December 2022, the top five sub-sectors with the highest increase were the following:

a. Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (993 thousand);         
b. Other service activities (563 thousand);         
c. Administrative and support service activities (513 thousand);         
d. Accommodation and food service activities (470 thousand); and         
e. Transportation and storage (275 thousand).

In contrast, the following are the top five sub-sectors with annual declines in employment:

a. Human health and social work activities (-306 thousand);         
b. Agriculture and forestry (-225 thousand);         
c. Public administration and defense, compulsory social security (-88 thousand);         
d. Real estate activities (-71 thousand); and         
e. Professional, scientific and technical activities (-32 thousand).         
(Table B)

10. Wage and salary workers continued to account the largest share of employed persons with 61.6 percent in December 2022, followed by the self-employed without any paid employee at 27.7 percent and unpaid family workers at 8.7 percent. Employer in own family-operated farm or business has the lowest share at 2.0 percent.

Among the wage and salary workers in December 2022, those who worked in private establishments made up 48.1 percentage points, followed by  wage and salary workers in the government and government-owned and controlled corporations accounted for 8.7 percentage points.(Table 1)

(Sgd.) DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.         
Undersecretary         
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

See more at the Labor Force Survey page