Overall, the results of the April 2018 LFS round show a positive labor market outlook in terms of employment generation. Improvements were observed in the female labor force participation rate (LFPR) (from 46.2% in April 2017 to 46.5% in April 2018), indicating available opportunities for women in the domestic labor market. At the same time, employment expanded by 1.6% with a positive net employment generation at 1.6 million, relative to April 2017.

This was bolstered by employment gains in the services (3.3% or 742,000 jobs) and industry sectors (8.1% or 605,000 jobs). Likewise, unemployment rate slightly eased at 5.5% from 5.7%. However, much is needed to be done to reach the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) target of 4.7%-5.3% for 2018. Other decent work gains were also observed particularly in the expansion of full-time employment (+3.297 million), remunerative employment (+1.380 million) and mean hours of work rose (from 40.3 to 42.0). Moreover, vulnerable employment rate, as measured by share of self-employed and unpaid family workers to total employment, eased to 32.5% from 34.9%, year-on-year.

However, these positive gains were also offset as underemployment rate marginally increased by 0.9 percentage points (ppts) from 16.1% to 17.0%. Moreover, LFPR dipped to 60.9% in April 2018 from 61.4% in April 2017.

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Title: April 2018 Labor Force Survey (LFS) Results
Researcher: Employment Research Division