Philippines - Unemployment

For the Philippines, the Labor Force Survey covers a range of labor market statistics, including: particpation rate, employment, unemployment and underremployment rate by region; employment status; employed persons, unemployment persons.

Labor Statistics are used to describe and analyze the size and structure of labor markets and how these change over time. It includes statistics on the situation of participants and non-participants in the world of work and the results of their participation, both as workers and as producers and employers.

The survey is undertaken by the PSA monthly except for the months where Quarterly LFS is conducted. This will provide high frequency statistical information on the Philippine labor market to better understand the current situation of employment and the economy of the Philippines during unprecedented event such as the Corana Virus of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Regional estimates are generated once every quarter whilst the national estimates are available monthly.

A sample of about 10,700 households will be interviewed for the monthly survey utilizing a total budget amounting to PhP 8.1 million. Results of the survey is expected to be released 30 days after the reference month.

Active:

• Classifications:
  • Industry: PSIC 1994, patterned after UN ISIC Rev. 3
  • Occupation: PSOC 2012, patterned after ILO ISCO 2008
• Measurements:
  • Thousands of persons (Ths. #)
  • Percent (%)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
• Native frequency: Monthly
• Start dates:
  • 2020m7
  • 2021m1

Predecessors:

• Quarterly - 1956 to 2021
• Quarterly composition by industry under PSIC 1994 - 2000 to 2012
• Quarterly composition by occupation under PSOC 1992 - 2000 to 2016
• Quarterly - 1995 to 2009

Starting April 2005, the new unemployment definition was adopted per NSCB Resolution no. 15 dated October 20, 2004. As indicated in the said resolution, the unemployed include all persons who are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday and are reported as: (1) without work and currently available for work and seeking work; OR (2) without work and currently available for work but not seeking work for the following reasons:

1. Tired/believed no work available
2. Awaiting results of previous job application
3. Temporary illness/disability
4. Bad Weather
5. Waiting for rehire/job recall

The PSA definitions of employment and unemployment closely follows the most recent international recommendations set out in the resolution concerning statistics on unemployment adopted by the Thirteenth International Conference of Labor Statisticians (1982) (IMF SDDS entries). For example, the ILO defines working-age population as persons aged 15 years and older; PSA reports such a series, and the pertinent LFS identity holds.

Starting June 2016, the Employment by Occupation series changed from PSOC 1992 to PSOC 2012.

The quarterly rounds for this release are computed as:

• Q1 - November, December, January
• Q2 - February, March, April
• Q3 - May, June, July
• Q4 - August, September, October

The annual values are calculated as the average of the four rounds.

Revisions are made periodically.

Further reading

At the source(s):

• http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/datalfs.html
• technical notes on the Labor Force Survey (LFS) (May 2012)
• Official concepts and definitions: Labour [sic]

At IMF (SDDS):

• Labor market: Employment
• Labor market: Unemployment

At ILO:

• ILO glossary of statistical terms (pdf)

Conduct of Monthly Data from Jan 2021:

• https://psa.gov.ph/press-releases/id/163955