The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is a nationwide quarterly survey of household conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority to gather data on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population. The LFS provides a snapshot or the stock of economically active persons in the country at a particular point or reference period. It aims to monitor the changes in the employment status of persons in the working age population (employed, unemployed and not in the labor force) during a specified time period using the Labor Force Framework. The LFS concept and measurement follows the international standards concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment adopted by the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in October 1982 at Geneva, Switzerland.
CAR Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is 64.2%
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The results of the October 2017 Labor Force Survey showed that the Philippines’s labor force participation rate of persons whose age is 15 years old and over was estimated at 62.1 percent or about 43.7 million individuals. This means that six in every ten individuals aged 15 years old and over were either employed or unemployed.
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Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) was among the regions with an LFPR higher than the national rate of 62.1 percent. The region’s LFPR decreased by 1.6 percentage points from 65.8 percent in October 2016 to 64.2 percent in October 2017.
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MIMAROPA posted the highest LFPR at 67.8 percent or about 1.4 million individuals. The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the lowest LFPR at 45.6 percent.
Table 1. Labor Force Participation Rate, Top Six Regions: October 2017
| Country/Region |
Total Population 15 Years Old and Over
|
Total Labor Force |
Labor Force Participation Rate
(LFPR) (%)
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Philippines | 70,380,000 | 43,732,000 | 62.1 |
| Region IV-B: MIMAROPA | 2,060,000 | 1,396,000 | 67.8 |
| Region X: Northern Mindanao | 3,286,000 | 2,208,000 | 67.2 |
| Region IV-A: CALABARZON | 9,855,000 | 6,457,000 | 65.5 |
| Region II: Cagayan Valley | 2,361,000 | 1,545,000 | 65.4 |
| Region XI: Davao Region | 3,468,000 | 2,265,000 | 65.3 |
| CAR | 1,243,000 | 799,000 | 64.2 |
Employment rate increases by 0.8 percentage point
- The number of employed persons increased by 0.8 percentage point from 95.5 percent in October 2016 to 96.3 percent in October 2017.
Table 2. Percentage of Employed Persons in the Labor Force of CAR:
October 2016 and October 2017
| Labor Force Participation Rate | Employment Rate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2016 (%) | October 2017 (%) | October 2016 (%) | October 2017 (%) | |
| Philippines | 63.6 | 62.1 | 95.3 | 95.0 |
| CAR | 65.8 | 64.2 | 95.5 | 96.3 |
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority
60% of employed persons in CAR are males
- Of the estimated 769,000 employed persons in CAR in October 2017, 60.4 percent or about 464,476 individuals were males, while 39.6 percent or about 304,524 individuals were females.
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Employed males in the region increased by 0.9 percentage point from 59.5 percent in October 2016 to 60.4 percent in October 2017. A corresponding decrease of 0.9 percentage point was recorded in the employed females from 40.5 percent to 39.6 percent in the same period.
Figure 1. Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Sex, CAR:
October 2016 and October 2017
Most of the employed have high school education
- As to the highest grade completed of employed persons, those who had Junior High School education dominated the labor force with 37.8 percent, of which 25.1 percent graduated while 12.7 percent did not graduate.
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Employed persons with college education followed with 33.1 percent of the regional total. Of these, 21.2 percent graduated while 11.9 percent were undergraduates.
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Employed persons with elementary level education came third with a share of 22.7 percent, of which 10.0 percent graduated while 12.7 percent did not graduate.
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Employed persons with Post-Secondary level education accounted to only 4.1 percent of the total employed persons in the region. There were 4.2 percent employed persons who graduated while 0.1 percent did not finish the course.
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The percentage of employed persons in CAR for October 2017 with no education or grade level completed was at 1.8 percent. This level had the second lowest incidence of employment in the region next to those with Senior High School education.
Figure 2. Employed Persons by Highest Grade Completed, CAR:
October 2017
Service industry employs the most
- By industrial origin, Service industry employed the most with 44.3 percent share in October2017. Agriculture industry followed with 42.6 percent and Industry with the least share with13.1 percent in the regional total employment in the same period.
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By sub-industry, Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry continued to be the biggest employer inthe region with 42.1 percent share in October 2017.
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Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles ranked as the second largest sub-industry group with 13.8 percent of the total employed persons in October 2017, followed by Construction accounting for 7.4 percent.
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Manufacturing shared only 3.4 percent of the total employed persons in the region in October 2017 considering that this sub-industry group had the biggest share to the regional economy.
Elementary Occupations comprise 29.6%
- Among the occupation groups, elementary occupations comprised the largest group of employed persons in CAR with 29.6 percent of the total regional employment in October 2017. This decreased by 1.7 percentage points compared to October 2016.
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Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers ranked the second largest occupation group with 22.8 percent of the total employed persons. This slightly increased by 0.1 percentage points from October 2016.
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Managers made up the third largest occupational group in October 2017 accounting for 13.7 percent.
Table 3. Percentage of Employed Persons by Major Occupation Groups, CAR:
October 2016 and October 2017
| Major Occupation Groups |
October 2016
|
October 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Total of Employed Persons | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| 1. Elementary Occupations | 31.3 | 29.6 |
|
2. Skilled Agricultural, forestry and fishery workers
|
22.7 | 22.8 |
| 3. Managers | 12.0 | 13.7 |
| 4. Service and sales workers | 10.3 | 10.4 |
| 5. Professionals | 7.4 | 7.1 |
| 6. Craft and related trades workers | 4.6 | 4.9 |
|
7. Plant and machine operators and assemblers
|
5.3 | 4.3 |
| 8. Technicians and associate professionals | 2.2 | 3.5 |
| 9. Clerical support workers | 3.5 | 3.3 |
| 10. Armed Forces Occupations | 0.5 | 0.4 |
Cordillera’s underemployment drops by 7.2 percentage points
- The underemployment rate of CAR was 11.7 percent which significantly decreased by 7.2 percentage points from the same quarter of the previous year. The visible underemployment rate was estimated at 5.6 percent.
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The total underemployment in CAR was 90,000 of which 52.2 percent of the underemployed persons already worked 40 hours per week and over
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Meanwhile, those who work less than 40 hours a week accounted 47.8 percent of the total underemployed estimates of the region.
Figure 3. Distribution of Underemployed Persons by Working Hours in CAR: October 2017
Unemployment at 3.6%
- Unemployment rate in the region decreased by 0.9 percentage point, from 4.5 percent in October 2016 to 3.6 percent in October 2017.
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Unemployed females decreased by 5.2 percentage points from 47.2 percent in October 2016 to 41.4 percent in October 2017. The observed increase in the unemployed males corresponded to the decrease in the unemployed females.
Figure 4. Distribution of Unemployed Persons, CAR: October 2016 and 2017
Technical Notes
In the Labor Force or Economically Active Population -This refers to population 15 years old and over who are either employed or unemployed in accordance with the definitions described below.
Employed Persons - Persons who, during the reference period are 15 years and over as of their last birthday and are reported either:
a. At work -Those who do any work even for one hour during the reference period for pay or profit, or work without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same
household related by blood, marriage or adoption; or
b. With a job but not at work -Those who have a job or business but are not at work because of temporary illness/injury, vacation or other reasons. Likewise, persons who expect to report for
work or to start operation of a farm or business enterprise within two weeks from the date of the enumerator's visit are considered employed.
Underemployed Persons - Employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or an additional job; or to have a new job with longer working hours. Visibly underemployed persons are those who work for less than 40 hours during the reference period and want additional hours of work.
Unemployed Persons -Persons who, during the reference period are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday who have no job/business and actively looking for work. Also considered as unemployed are persons without a job or business who are reported not looking for work because of their belief that no work was available or because of temporary illness/disability, bad weather, pending job application or waiting for job interview.
Persons Not in the Labor Force - Persons 15 years old and over who are neither employed nor unemployed according to the definitions mentioned. It refers to those persons who are not looking for work because of reasons such as housekeeping, schooling, etc. Examples are housewives, students, disabled or retired persons.
Work - Any economic activity that a person does for pay in cash or in kind, in any establishment, office, farm, private home or for profit or without pay on a family farm or enterprise. It also includes what a farm operator or member of the operator's family does on the farm operated by another household on exchange labor arrangement.
Work also refers to any activity that a person does in relation to minor activities in home gardening, raising of crops, fruits, hogs, poultry etc., fishing for home consumption and manufacturing for own use are also considered work. There must be some harvest in the case of home gardening, raising of crops, fruits and nuts and gathering of wild fruits and vegetables; animals disposed of (sold, consumed, bartered or given away) or some catch in fishing in order that these activities will be considered work.
Unpaid family workers or those who work without pay on own family-operated farm or business - These are members of the family who assist another member in the operation of the family farm or business enterprise, and who do not receive any wage or salary for their work. The room and board and any cash allowance given as incentives are not counted as compensation for these family workers.
Number of hours worked - This refers to the total number of hours a person actually worked in all the jobs/businesses that he held. It includes the duration or the period the person was occupied in his work, including overtime, but excluding hours paid but not worked. The normal working hours per day is the usual or prescribed working hours of a person in his primary job/business which is considered a full day's work.
