The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is a nationwide quarterly survey of households conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to gather data on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population. Specifically, the survey is designed to provide statistics on levels and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment for the country, as a whole, and for each of the administrative regions.
More than half of population 15 years old and over are in the labor force
- The January 2020 Labor Force Survey showed that the total working population 15 years old and over in the region was estimated at 762 thousand. This translates to 62.9 percent labor force participation rate (LFPR), slightly higher by 1.3 percentage points as compared to the 61.6 percent LFPR recorded in the same quarter of 2019.
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Comparing the regional and the national LFPR, CAR’s LFPR was slightly higher than the national labor force participation rate of 61.7 percent.
Figure 1. Percentage of Working Population 15 years Old and Over, CAR:
January 2019 and January 2020
Employment rate in CAR at 92.7 percent
- Employment rate in the region was at 92.7 percent or equivalent to 740 thousand Cordillerans employed in January 2020. This was higher than the average national employment rate of 94.7 percent.
- Employment rate decreased by 1.7 percentage points as compared to the employment rate in January 2019 at 95.1 percent or equivalent to 753 thousand employed.
Figure 2. Percentage of Employed Person 15 years Old and Over, CAR:
January 2019 and January 2020
More males are employed than females
- In January 2020, 61.2 percent of the estimated 740 thousand employed were males while employed females were recorded at 38.8 percent.
3 out of 10 employed persons are in elementary occupations
- Across major occupational groups, workers in elementary occupations shared the largest group with 29.9 percent of the total employed population in the region in January 2020, followed by skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishing workers with 25.4 percent.
- Clerical support workers, and armed forces occupations and special occupations shared the least with 2.8 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Figure 4. Percent Distribution of Employed Persons by Major Occupation
Group, CAR: January 2020
Almost half of employed are wage and salary workers
- Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government and government-controlled corporations, and those who work with pay in own family-oriented farm or business. This class of worker accounted the largest share with 48.8 percent, followed by self-employed without any paid employee with 35.2 percent.
- The share of worked without pay in own family-operated farm or business was 12.8 percent, and the least was self-employed in own family-oriented farm or business was 3.1 percent.
Underemployment at 11. 3 percent
- Among the economically active population15 years old and over, 11.3 percent were underemployed, accounting to 83.6 thousand underemployed Cordillerans.
Not in the labor force decreased in January 2020
- Among the estimated population of 15 years old and over in the region, about 37.1 percent were not in the labor force in January 2020, lower than the 38.4 percent recorded in the same period in the previous year.
- Among those not in the labor force in January 2020, 64.3 percent were females, and 35.7 percent were males. Those not in the labor force include housewives, students, persons with disability, and those who retired from their employment.
