F

Employment Situation Update

April 2023

About 6 out of 10 Filipinos aged 15 years and older are

acts
in the labor force, according to the preliminary results of
in
igures
the April 2023 Labor Force Survey Report (LFSR) of the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This represents
50.3 million of the 77.3 million Filipinos of working age.
The labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 65.1% in
April 2023 is higher than the 63.4% LFPR in the same
period of 2022, representing an increase of 1.9 million Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department
Filipinos to 50.3 million in April 2023 from 48.4 million in House of Representatives
April 2022 (Figure 1). June 2023 (No. 35)

Figure 1
Labor Force Participation Rate
April 2022 and April 2023
This represents a reduction of about 500 thousand in
100,000 65.5%
the number of unemployed persons to 2.3 million in April
65.1%
65.0%
80,000 2023 from 2.8 million in April 2022.
76,374 77,260 64.5%
60,000
64.0%
40,000 50,314 The underemployment rate also decreased to 12.9%
48,393 63.5%
20,000 63.4% 63.0% in April 2023 from 14.0% in April 2022, representing
- 62.5% a reduction of roughly 200 thousand in the number of
2022 April 2023 April underemployed workers to 6.2 million in April 2023 from
Population 15 yrs old and older ('000) 6.4 million in April 2022.

Number of Persons in the Labor Force

Employment by Major Sector and Mean Hours of
Labor Force Participation Rate Work. Of the 50.3 million employed persons in April
2023, 29.4 million or 61.1% are in the services sector,
Source: April 2023 LFSR-PSA
posting an increase of 2.9 million from 26.5 million in
Employment Situation. The country’s unemployment April 2022. Both the shares of employed persons in
rate improved by 1.2 percentage points to 4.5% in April the agriculture and the industry sectors declined in April
2023 from 5.7% in April 2022 (Table 1) - the lowest since 2023, accounting for 21.9% and 17.0%, respectively
the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic (17.6% in (Table 2).
April 2020, 8.7% in April 2021) and even lower than
the pre-pandemic rate of 5.2% in April 2019. Table 2
Distribution of Employed Persons by Sector
Table 1 April 2022 and April 2023
Employment, Underemployment & Unemployment
Rates, April 2022 and April 2023 Inc/
Employment April 2022 April 2023
April April Inc/ Dec
Regions
2022 2023 Dec Number of employed
45,631 48,058 2,426
Number of persons in the persons (‘000)
48,393 50,314 1,920
labor force (‘000) Services Sector
Number of employed persons ‘000 26,466 29,363 2,897
45,631 48,058 2,426
(‘000)
Employment Rate (%) 94.3 95.5 1.2
% share 58.0 61.1 3.1
Number of underemployed Agriculture Sector
6,399 6,204 -194 ‘000 10,769 10,525 -244
persons (‘000)
Underemployment Rate (%) 14.0 12.9 -1.1 % share 23.6 21.9 -1.7
Number of unemployed Industry Sector
2,762 2,256 -506
persons (‘000) ‘000 8,396 8,170 -226
Unemployment Rate (%) 5.7 4.5 -1.2 % share 18.4 17.0 1.4
Source of basic data: 2021 GATS Source: April 2023 LFSR-PSA
In April 2023, the workers’ mean hours of work per The lowest unemployment rate was recorded in Region
week declined to 36.9 compared to the 40.1 mean II-Cagayan Valley (2.4%), followed by the Cordillera
hours in the same period in 2022 (Figure 2). Administrative Region (2.7%); Region IX-Zamboanga
Peninsula (2.8%); Region IV-B MIMAROPA (2.9%)
Figure 2
Mean Hours of Work per Week and Region XIII-Caraga (3.0%).
April 2022 and April 2023
Underemployment Rate By Region. While the
Mean Hours of Work in a Week national underemployment situation improved, six
regions reflected higher underemployment rates
42
40.1 compared to the national average of 12.9%. These
40
38 include a) Region XII-SOCCSKSARGEN (29.2%)
36 36.9 - which also reflected the highest increase of 5.9
34 percentage points compared with the 23.3% in the
2022 APRIL 2023 APRIL
same period in 2022; b) Region V-Bicol (25.1%,); c)
Source: April 2023 LFSR-PSA Region XIII-Caraga (19.4%); d) Region VIII-Eastern
Visayas (18.0%); e) Region IV-B MIMAROPA (15.3%);
Unemployment Rate By Region. Unemployment and, f) Region IV-A CALABARZON (13.3%).
situation across the regions continued to improve
The NCR’s underemployment rate of 7.9% is five
in April 2023 compared to the same period in 2022,
percentage points lower than the national average.
except for Region X-Northen Mindanao which
However, it is 0.9 percentage point higher than the
registered an increase in its unemployment rate by
previous year's 7.0%.
1.2 percentage points to 5.3% from 4.1% (Table 3).
Region IX-Zamboanga Peninsula registered the
Regions with unemployment rates higher than the highest improvement in underemployment rate
country’s average of 4.5% include: a) Region IV-A or with 10 percentage points decrease in April 2023,
CALABARZON (5.5%); b) National Capital Region reaching 10.5% from 20.5% in April 2022,. The lowest
and Region X-Northern Mindanao (5.3%); c) Region underemployment rate was recorded in Region VII-
VII-Central Visayas (5.2%); and, d) Region III-Central Central Visayas at 6.8% (Table 4).
Luzon (4.7%).

Table 3 Table 4
Unemployment Rate by Region Underemployment Rate by Region
April 2022 and April 2023 April 2022 and April 2023
April April Inc/ April April Inc/
Regions Regions
2022 2023 Dec 2022 2023 Dec
Philippines 5.7 4.5 -1.2 Philippines 14.0 12.9 -1.1
National Capital Region (NCR) 7.5 5.3 -2.2 National Capital Region (NCR) 7.0 7.9 0.9
Cordillera Administrative Region Cordillera Administrative Region
4.4 2.7 -1.7 12.7 10.4 -2.3
(CAR) (CAR)
Region I (Ilocos Region) 5.9 4.5 -1.4 Region I (Ilocos Region) 16.0 12.7 -3.3
Region II (Cagayan Valley) 3.8 2.4 -1.4 Region II (Cagayan Valley) 15.1 11.9 -3.2
Region III (Central Luzon) 5.2 4.7 -0.5 Region III (Central Luzon) 7.6 11.6 4.0
Region IV-A (CALABARZON) 6.8 5.5 -1.3 Region IV-A (CALABARZON) 17.2 13.3 -3.9
Regin IV-B (MIMAROPA) 5.2 2.9 -2.3 Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) 20.2 15.3 -4.9
Region V (Bicol Region) 6.2 3.9 -2.3 Region V (Bicol Region) 21.2 25.1 3.9
Region VI (Western Visayas) 5.6 4.3 -1.3 Region VI (Western Visayas) 16.4 12.5 -3.9
Region VII (Central Visayas) 5.2 5.2 0.0 Region VII (Central Visayas) 10.6 6.8 -3.8
Region VIII (Eastern Visayas) 6.0 4.2 -1.8 Region VIII (Eastern Visayas) 14.8 18.0 3.2
Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) 2.9 2.8 -0.1 Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) 20.5 10.5 -10.0
Region X (Northern Mindanao) 4.1 5.3 1.2 Region X (Northern Mindanao) 14.0 11.7 -2.3
Region XI (Davao Region) 3.8 3.3 -0.5 Region XI (Davao Region) 8.1 8.7 0.6
Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) 5.5 4.0 -1.5 Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) 23.3 29.2 5.9
Region XIII (Caraga) 4.1 3.0 -1.1 Region XIII (Caraga) 14.7 19.4 4.7
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Bangsamoro Autonomous Region
7.6 4.3 -3.3 18.5 9.9 -8.6
in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)
Source: April 2023 LFSR-PSA Source: April 2023 LFSR-PSA