Preliminary results of the October 2015 Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the Philippine

Statistics Authority, which excludes data for the province of Leyte, showed that the
number of employed persons went up by 163,000 to total 39.0 million from 38.837
million a year ago. Employment rate stood at 94.3% relative to October 2014 rate
94.0%.
The increase in employment mostly came from the services sector (440,000 or
2.11%) and the industry sector (170,000 or 2.8%). The combined increments posted
by both sectors managed to negate the decrement suffered by the agriculture
sector (-445,000 or 3.7%). The decline in agricultural employment can be attributed
to the dry spell/drought experienced in several parts of the country due to El Nio
which was predicted to be at its peak in the last quarter of 2015 to the first two
months of 2016 according to PAGASAs El Nio Advisory No. 10.
The growth in services sector employment was mainly from the wholesale and
retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (185,000), public
administration and defense; compulsory social security (148,000) and the
administrative and support service activities (89,000). Meanwhile, the boost in
industry sector employment primarily came from construction (144,000)
. By region, substantial increases in number of employed persons were recorded in
Region VII (123,000 or 4.0%), Region V (69,000 or 3.0%) and Region III (47,000 or
1.1%). Meanwhile, ARMM and Region X suffered declines of 5.0% (-66,000) and
2.7% (-56,000), respectively.
On a more positive note, the gain in employment was accompanied by an
expansion in full time employment by 2.8% (691,000) during the period while parttime workers declined by 434,000 (-3.2%). Further, the number of wage and salary
workers went up by 573,000 (2.5%) while unpaid family workers and self-employed
workers exhibited declines of 9.2% (-385,000) and 1.1% (-123,000), respectively.
Also, the proportion of persons in vulnerable employment (the sum of self-employed
and unpaid family workers) to total employed slightly improved at 37.5% from
39.0% last year.
Moreover, contractions in the number of unemployed persons by 137,000 (2.345
million vs. 2.482 million) and workers wanting additional hours of work or the
underemployed by 412,000 (6.866 million vs. 7.278 million) were observed during
the reference period. Bulk of the decrease in the number of underemployed persons
came from those working less than 40 hours per week and still wanting additional
hours of work or the visibly underemployed (-334,000).
Unemployment rate consequently went down to 5.7% from 6.0%, while the
underemployment rate slid down to 17.6% from 18.7% in October 2014.
By demographic characteristics, substantial proportion of the unemployed
persons were those in age group 15 24 years old (48.2%), men (63.2%) and those
with high school education (43.6%). Unemployment rates for the youth stood at

13.6% while the men was registered at 5.9%, both lower than their respective
unemployment rates of 14.2% and 6.4% in October 2014.
By region, the highest unemployment rate was recorded in Region I at 8.5%
followed by Region IV-A at 7.8%, both recording higher rates than the NCR (7.2%).
NCR usually posts the highest unemployment rate among regions. The lowest rate
was in Region XII at 2.4%.

The size of the labor force was estimated at 41.345 million, slightly higher by
26,000 than the October 2014 figure of 41.319. This translates to a labor force
participation rate (LFPR) of 63.4% October 2015, slightly lower than the 64.3% LFPR
last year.
From among regions, only workers from Region I Ilocos Region were provided
with an increase in the minimum wage in the amount of P7.00 specifically for those
employed in micro non-agriculture industries and non-plantation agriculture
industries based on the second tranche of Wage Order No. RB1-17 effective
December 1, 2015.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2015 reached 142.6 index points,
2.1 index points higher compared to the 140.5 index points during the same period
last year. The inflation rate for the period went down to 1.5% compared to previous
years inflation rate of 2.7%. Regional inflation rates were high in Caraga (2.6%);
and Region II, Region VI and ARMM (all with 2.5%). Meanwhile, the purchasing
power of the peso dropped slightly to P0.70 centavos compared to the same period
a year ago at P0.71 centavos. The lowest purchasing power of the peso was
registered in Caraga at P0.62 centavos.
Net inward foreign investments registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP) amounted to US$166 million in the third quarter of 2015. While net foreign
direct investments posted an increase of +US$1,068 million, net foreign portfolio
investments recorded a loss of -US$2,991 million compared with the same period
last year

Current state of the Labor Force as of 2015-2016

Year

Jan

2015 62.9

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

62.8

62.7

62.7

62.8

62.6

62.6

62.6

62.4

62.5

62.5

62.6

2016

62.7

62.9

63.0

62.8

62.6

62.7

62.8

62.8

2015:
MAJOR INDUSTRY GROUP

# of
Employed
Persons

Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry

9,850

Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles &

Motorcycles

7,089

Manufacturing

3,141

Transportation & Storage

2,725

Construction

2,452

Other Service Activities

2,129

Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Social Security

1,905

Accommodation & Food Service Activities

1,689

Education

1,222

Fishing and Aquaculture

1,199

Administrative & Support Service Activities

1,152

Activities of Households as Employers; Undifferentiated Goods &

Services-producing Activities of Households for Own Use

509

Financial & Insurance Activities

494

Human Health & Social Work Activities

461

Information & Communication

372

Arts, Entertainment & Recreation

323

Mining and Quarrying

220

Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities

209

Real Estate Activities

176

Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply

92

Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management & Remediation

Activities

43

Activities of Extraterritorial Organizations & Bodies

2016:
Jan

Aprl

Agriculture
Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry
Fishing and Aquaculture
Industry
Mining and Quarrying
Manufacturing
Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply
Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and
Remediation Activities
Construction
Services

40,047
39,916
10,811
9,976
9,506 8,668
1,305 1,308
6,699
7,306
215 210
3,297 3,456
87
98

Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles

and Motorcycles
Transportation and Storage
Accommodation and Food Service Activities
Information and Communication

58
75
3,043 3,468
22,536
22,633

Financial and Insurance Activities

Real Estate Activities
Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities
Administrative and Support Service Activities
Public Administration and Defense;
Compulsory Social Security
Education
Human Health and Social Work Activities
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation

7,555
2,974
1,787
383
487
214
220
1,232

8,234
2,936
1,753
385
527
205
233
1,376

2,249
1,381
513
417
3,119

2,116
1,206
485
370
2,802

c
4

c
6

Other Service Activities

Activities of Households as Employers; Undifferentiated
Goods and Services-producing Activities of
Households for Own Use
Activities of Extraterritorial Organizations and Bodies

2015:

MAJOR OCCUPATION GROUP

# of
Employ
ed
Person
s

Laborers and Unskilled Workers

11,630

Officials of Government and SpecialInterest Organizations, Corporate

Executives, Managers, Managing
Proprietors and Supervisors

6,193

Farmers, Forestry Workers and Fishermen

4,910

Service Workers and Shop and Market

Sales Workers

4,828

Trades and Related Workers

2,464

Clerks

2,358

Plant and Machine Operators

& Assemblers

2,065

Professionals

1,908

Technicians and Associate Professionals

998

Special Occupations

102

Unemployment Rate in the Philippines:

Country: 1998 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013
Philippines: 9.6
7.3
7
7

10
7.4

10

10.2 11.4

11.7 8.7

7.9

7.3

7.4

Regional Nominal and Real wages in the Philippines:

REGION
REAL WAGE b/

NOMINAL WAGE a/

NCR

491.00

368.07

CAR

285.00

200.14

253.00

185.35

7.5

II
III
IV-A

300.00
364.00

185.35
250.00

378.50

268.82

IV-B

285.00

192.96

V
180.64

265.00

VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
203.98

298.50
353.00
260.00
280.00

194.84
238.35
169.05
176.77

318.00

XI
204.78

317.00

XII
175.94

275.00

XIII
168.82

275.00

ARMM
164.19

265.00

Comparative wages:
PHL-Region XI- Highest daily minimum wage in Non-Agriculture is
P317.00/day effective June 1, 2014
Region VII-Highest daily minimum wage in Non-Agri. is P353.00 and the
lowest minimum wage is P295.00 in Region VII-effective October 10, 2015
Region III-Highest daily minimum wage in Non-Agri. is P357.00 in Region III,
and the lowest minimum wage is P306.00-effective January 1, 2016
Region IVA-Highest daily minimum wage in Non-Agri. is P378.50 in IV-A
(Growth Corridor Area), and the lowest minimum wage is P285.00 (Resourced
Based Area)-effective July 1, 2016
NCR-Highest daily minimum wage is P491.00 in NCR, effective June 2, 2016

Microeconomics

Submitted by: Angelica Ann C. De Leon

Submitted to: Prof. Leticia Gamad
BSBA-MM3A
TTH 7:30-9:00 PM