The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is one of the nationwide household surveys undertaken quarterly which provides up-to-date information on the Philippine labor force and its characteristics. This survey gathers data on the demographic and socio- economic characteristics of the population and aims to provide a quantitative framework for the preparation of plans and formulation of policies affecting the labor market.

From the preliminary result of the October 2021 Labor Force Survey (LFS), Central Visayas has 5,547,000 total population of 15 years old and over wherein 66.18 percent were engaged in the Labor Force also known as the Labor Force Participation Rate (Table 1).

Labor Force Participation Rate is the percentage of the total number of persons in the labor force to the population of 15 years old and over.

The labor force population consists of the employed and the unemployed persons 15 years old and over.

The national employment rate in October 2021 was estimated at 92.60 percent. Among regions Central Visayas had an employment rate of 93.01 percent which is higher compared with the national estimate (Table 2).

In every quarterly result, workers were grouped into three broad sectors, namely, agriculture, industry and services sector. Workers in the services sector comprised the largest proportion of the population who are employed. It was followed by the agriculture sector and those in the industry sector are the smallest group.

Employed persons are classified as either full-time workers or part-time workers. Full-time workers refer to those who worked for 40 hours or more during the reference week, while those who worked for less than 40 hours were considered part-time workers. The reference week or reference period refers to the past seven days (moving) from the date of interview. This covers all persons aged 15 years old and over as of their last birthday.

Employed persons fall into any of these categories: (1) wage and salary workers, (2) self-employed workers without any paid employee, (3) employers in own family-operated farm or business, and (4) unpaid family workers.  Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government or government-controlled corporations, and those who work with pay in own family-operated farm or business.

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.

The national unemployment rate in October 2021 was estimated at 7.40 percent. Central Visayas had a higher unemployment rate than the national estimate at 6.99 percent (Table 3).

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 October 2021, the underemployment rate was estimated at 17.53 percent for Central Visayas. There are seven (7) other regions with higher underemployment rates compared to Central Visayas (Table 4).

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

The October 2021 Employment, Unemployment, and Underemployment Rates were taken from the preliminary result of the October 2021 Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (Table 5).

Approved by:

(SGD.) ARIEL E. FLORENDO
Regional Director