In April 2024, the unemployment rate in Eastern Visayas decreased to 3.0 percent, showing a 1.2 percentage points difference from the 4.2 percent unemployment rate in April 2023. The 3.0 percent unemployment rate was equivalent to around 62.4 thousand persons in the labor force who were unemployed in April 2024, lower by about 27.4 thousand unemployed persons compared to the 89.8 thousand unemployed persons recorded in April 2023. The 3.0 percent unemployment rate in April 2024 was also lower compared with the 5.4 percent unemployment rate in January 2024.

Moreover, the region’s employment rate increased to 97.0 percent in April 2024, from 95.8 percent in April 2023. The 97.0 percent employment rate translates to about 2.03 million employed persons out of the 2.09 million persons in the labor force in April 2024. This number was lower by about 31 thousand employed persons compared with the 2.06 million employed persons reported in April 2023. However, the employment rate in April 2024 was higher by around 2.4 percentage points than the 94.6 percent employment rate in January 2024.

Meanwhile, Eastern Visayas recorded an underemployment rate of 20.1 percent in April 2024. This translates to about 408 thousand underemployed persons out of 2.03 million employed persons in April 2024. The 20.1 percent underemployment rate was higher by 2.1 percentage points compared with the 18.0 percent underemployment rate in April 2023. However, it was lower by 0.1 percentage point compared with the 20.2 percent underemployment rate in January 2024. Underemployed persons are employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.

Eastern Visayas registered a Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 62.4 percent in April 2024. This placed the region’s labor force at 2.09 million persons who were either employed or unemployed out of the estimated 3.35 million population 15 years old and over. The 62.4 percent LFPR in April 2024 was lower by 3.2 percentage points than the 65.6 percent LFPR recorded in April 2023. This means that the labor force in April 2024 was lower by around 59 thousand persons than the 2.15 million persons who were in the labor force in April 2023. The 62.4 percent LFPR in April 2024 was higher by 3.4 percentage points compared with the 59.0 LFPR in January 2024.

SGD. WILMA A. PERANTE
Regional Director

Technical Notes

The stability and growth of a country’s economy hinges on its ability to produce goods and services for both domestic and international use.  Labor represents an important factor of production, hence, the improvement of the quality of the labor force, and efforts to make it more productive and responsive to growth are necessary for the development of the economy.  A clear knowledge and understanding of the size, composition, and other characteristics of the segment of the population is a big step in this direction.  A continuing supply of the data on labor force is indispensable to national and local development planning.  The Labor Force Survey (LFS) gathers data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population with nationwide coverage and conducted on a quarterly and monthly mode by interviewing households.

The LFS aims to provide a quantitative framework for the preparation of plans, and formulation of policies affecting the labor market. 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.

With regions as domain, survey operations for January 2024 LFS ran from 08 to 31 January 2024 and covered 10,752 effective sample households.  Starting January 2023, the LFS adopted the updates on the Philippine Standard Geographic Code to include Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).  

The sampling frame used was the 2023 Geo-enabled Master Sample (GeoMS) design for household-based surveys.  The 2023 GeoMS is constructed based on the results of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH).  The LFS adopts recent developments in statistical methodology/processes and in the education system.

Enumeration is a highly complex operation, and it may happen that reported/encoded entries during data collection may have some omissions, and implausible/inconsistent entries. During the interview, embedded editing was activated and errors/inconsistent entries were detected by the program. Editing was also done using Computer Aided Field Editing (CAFE) program after every interviewed household to ensure completeness and consistency of encoded entries.

The reference period for this survey is the “past week” referring to the past seven (7) days preceding the date of visit of the enumerator or the interviewer.

“Population 15 Years Old and Over” refers to the number of population 15 years old and over excluding overseas workers. “In the Labor Force” or “Economically Active Population” refers to persons 15 years old and over who are either employed or unemployed in accordance with the following definitions:

1. Employed persons include all those who, during the reference period are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday, and are reported either:

• At work, i.e., those who do any work even for one hour during the reference period for pay or profit, or work without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same household related by blood, marriage, or adoption; or

• With a job but not at work, i.e., those who have a job or business but are not at work because of temporary illness or injury, vacation, or other reasons. Likewise, persons who expect to report for work or to start operation of a farm or business enterprise within two weeks from the date of the enumerator’s visit are considered employed.

2. Underemployed persons include all employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours. Visibly underemployed persons are those who work for less than 40 hours during the reference period and want additional hours of work.

3. Unemployed persons include all those who, during the reference period, are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday, and reported as persons:

• Without work, i.e., had no job or business during the reference period;

• Currently available for work, i.e., were available and willing to take up  work in paid employment or self-employment during the reference period, and/or would be available and willing to take up work in paid employment or self-employment within two weeks after the interview date; and

• Seeking work, i.e., had taken specific steps to look for a job or establish a business during the reference period, or

• Not seeking work due to the following reasons: (1) fatigued or believed no work available, i.e., discouraged workers; (2) awaiting results of previous job application; (3) temporary illness or disability; (4) bad weather; and/or (5) waiting for rehire or job recall. 
  d. Not seeking work due to the following reasons: (1) fatigued or believed no work available, i.e., discouraged workers; (2) awaiting results of previous job application; (3) temporary illness or disability; (4) bad weather; and/or (5) waiting for rehire or job recall.

4. Persons Not in the Labor Force are persons 15 years old and over who are neither employed nor unemployed according to the definitions mentioned. Those not in the labor force are persons who are not looking for work because of reasons such as housekeeping, schooling and permanent disability. Examples are housewives, students, persons with disability, or retired persons.