The estimated number of employed persons based on the October 2008 Labor Force Survey is 34.5 million. Of
this number, 38.4 percent are women (13.3 million). This translates to an employment rate of 93.5 percent for women, higher than the employment rate of 93.0 percent for men. Two regions register a high employment rate among women, with 97 for every 100 of the regions’ labor force reported as employed in October 2008. These are Cagayan Valley (96.8%) and Zamboanga Peninsula (96.6%). Only NCR registers an employment rate lower than 90 percent (88.3%).
Based on 2002 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF), male operators dominated agriculture sector. Of the 4.8 million agricultural operators, 89 percent are males while only 11 percent are females. Agricultural operators had a median age of 46 years. This means that half of the agricultural operators were below 46 years old. The median age among male agricultural operators was 45 years old while among female agricultural operators was 56 years old. This means that female agriculture operators were generally older than their male counterpart.
Underemployed persons are 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. They were estimated at 6.0 million in October 2008. Of this number, 28.1 percent are women (1.7 million). This translates to an underemployment rate (the proportion of underemployed women to total employed women) of 12.8 percent for women. Underemployment rate among men is reported at 20.4 percent.
More than half (52.0 percent) or a total of 878,084 of the reported births in the year 2005 were males while 48.0 percent or 810,834 babies born then were females. About 0.9 percent or 7,758 of the total male births reported were named “Joshuaâ€ÂÂ, while 0.6 percent or 4,722 of the total female births were named “Angel.â€ÂÂ
Empowerment of women is essential for the achievement of sustainable development. The full participation and partnership of both women and men is required in productive and reproductive life. The 2008 NDHS explores women’s empowerment in terms of employment, type of earnings, control over cash and earnings and freedom of movement.
