Highlights of the June 2021 Labor Force Survey
a. The country’s unemployment rate in June 2021 remained the same as the 7.7 percent reported a month ago. This is lower than the unemployment rates in April (8.7%), February (8.8%), and January (8.7%) of the same year, but higher than the 7.1 percent reported in March 2021. (Table A)
b. In terms of magnitude, 3.76 million Filipinos 15 years old and over were unemployed in June 2021, compared to 3.73 million in May 2021. (Table A)
c. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in June 2021 was registered at 65.0 percent or about 48.84 million Filipinos 15 years and over who were either employed or unemployed. This is higher than the LFPR reported in May (64.6%), April (63.2%), February (63.5%), and January (60.5%) of the same year. (Table A)
d. Employment rate in June 2021 remain unchanged at 92.3 percent from May 2021. This means that 45.08 million were employed out of 48.84 million Filipinos in the labor force in June 2021. This employment rate is higher than the rates reported in April 2021 (91.3%), February 2021 (91.2%), and January 2021 (91.3%), but lower by -0.6 percentage point from the March 2021 estimate. (Table A)
Employed persons reported with job but not at work was down to 1.2 percent in June 2021 from 1.4 percent in May 2021. (Table 2)
e. The average weekly hours worked by an employed person in June 2021 was at 39.0 hours, the same as reported a month ago. This was lower compared to January 2021 (39.3 hours) and March 2021 (39.7 hours), but higher than the average weekly hours worked in February 2021 (38.9 hours) and April 2021 (38.0 hours). (Tables A and 2)
f. Underemployment rate went up to 14.2 percent in June 2021 from the estimated 12.3 percent in the previous month. This is translated to an increase of 918 thousand underemployed persons, from 5.49 million in May to 6.41 million in June 2021. (Table A)
g. Among men and women, LFPR in June 2021 was higher for men (76.3%) than for women (53.7%). Likewise, employment rate was higher among men at 93.2 percent than among women at 91.0 percent. Underemployment rate among men (15.5%) was also higher than among women (12.4%). (Table D)
h. By broad industry group, the services sector still accounted for the largest share (57.6%) of employed persons in June 2021. The agriculture and the industry sectors contributed 24.3 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively, to the 45.08 million total employed persons. (Table 1)
In terms of month-on-month changes in the number employed persons from May to June 2021, the top five subsectors with highest increase were the following:
a. Administrative and support service activities (282 thousand);
b. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (259 thousand);
c. Fishing and aquaculture (194 thousand);
d. Education (132 thousand); and
e. Agriculture and forestry (118 thousand). (Table B)
In contrast, the following were the top five subsectors with largest drop in employment from May to June 2021:
a. Other Service Activities (-241 thousand);
b. Accommodation and Food Service Activities (-143 thousand);
c. Public Administration and Defense, Compulsory Social Security (-98 thousand);
d. Transportation and Storage (-76 thousand); and
e. Financial and Insurance activities (-71 thousand). (Table B)
i. Youth LFPR was placed at 39.8 percent in June 2021 from 38.4 percent in May 2021. Youth employment rate remained at 85.5 percent in June 2021. Similarly, youth unemployment rate remained unchanged at 14.5 percent in June 2021. On the other hand, youth underemployment rate increased to 13.5 percent in June 2021 from 10.0 percent a month ago. (Table A)
(Sgd.)DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General
