Sixty-four Percent of the population 15 years old and over are in the labor force

In January 2020, the total population 15 years old and over in Central Visayas was estimated at 5.3 million wherein the number of persons who were in the labor force was reported at 3.4 million. This placed the labor force participation rate (LFPR) at 63.8 percent, which means that six in ten of the population aged 15 years and over were either employed or unemployed. (Figure 1)

Central Visayas recorded a 96.5 percent employment rate

The total number of employed persons in Central Visayas was estimated at 3.3 million. The employment rate reported or the proportion of employed persons to total labor force was 96.5 percent (Figure 2).

Central Visayas had a higher employment rate with the national employment rate of 94.7 percent for the January 2020 Employment Situation.

Meanwhile unemployed persons include all those who, during the reference period, are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday who have no job/business, currently available for work 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.

Table 1 shows thenational unemployment rate in January 2020 was estimated at 3.5 percent. The table also shows that there were 12 regions which have an unemployment rate higher than the Region VII figure.

By definition, employed persons who express desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours are considered underemployed.  

In January 2020, the underemployment rate was estimated at 14.7 percent for Central Visayas (Table 2) and ranked 10^th among regions.

Underemployed persons who work for less than 40 hours in a week are called visibly underemployed persons.

The January 2020 Employment Situation is taken from the final result of the January 2020 Labor Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (Table 3).

Approved by:

(SGD.) ARIEL E. FLORENDO
Regional Director