Employment rate improves to 93.6%

Published on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 22:27

Written by Max V. de Leon | Reporter

The country’s employment rate slightly improved to 93.6 percent, with the services sector providing more than half of the jobs, the latest report of the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

The employed population in October 2011, the NSO said, was estimated at 38.6 million, with six in every 10 (60.3 percent) of the employed population being males.

Also, 16 percent of the total employed were males in the age group of 25 to 34 years.   

“Males in the age groups 35 to 44 years and 15 to 24 years comprised the next largest groups with shares of 13.4 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively, to the total number of employed persons,” the statistics office said.

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In October 2010, the country’s employment rate was estimated at 92.9 percent.

The NSO said about 41.2 million of the estimated 62.2 million population 15 years old and over in October 2011 were in the labor force, putting the country’s labor force participation rate (LFPR) at 66.3 percent. 

Of the 21 million Filipinos who did not join the labor force, the NSO said 71.1 percent were women.

Region 4B, or Mimaropa, registered the highest LFPR at 71.8, while the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted the lowest LFPR at 57.1 percent.

With less people joining the labor force in ARMM, it posted the highest employment rate in the country at 97.7 percent.

It is followed by Cagayan Valley, 97.2 percent; Zamboanga Peninsula, 96.6 percent; and Mimaropa, 96.5 percent.

The National Capital Region (NCR), meanwhile, had the lowest employment rate at 89.6 percent.

“Of the 38.6 million employed population in October 2011, those in the services sector comprised the largest group [52.1 percent]. Workers engaged in wholesale and retail, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods
comprised the largest work force in the services sector [20.2 percent of the total employed],” NSO said.

The agriculture sector provided jobs to 33.4 percent of the total employed, with industry sector employing the remainder.

In October 2010, 51.7 percent of the total employed worked in the services sector, 33.6 percent in the agriculture sector and 14.7 percent in the industry sector.

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion (33.2 percent) of the total employed population in October 2011, followed by farmers, forestry workers and fishermen with 15.0 percent.  In October 2010, 32.4 percent of the total employed were laborers and unskilled workers, while 16.2 percent were farmers, forestry workers and fishermen.

Employed persons are classified as either full-time workers or part-time workers.  Full-time workers are those who work for 40 hours or more, while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours.  In October 2011, around 62.0 percent of the total employed were full-time workers, while 37.0 percent were part-time workers.  In the same month of the previous year, 63.8 percent of the total employed were full-time workers.  The average number of hours worked in October 2011 was 41 while it was 42 in October 2010.