Consistent with the steady growth of the economy, the July 2018 round of LFS showed modest increase in employment rate to 94.6%, with the number of employed persons registering a 1.2% growth from the same period in 2017. However, underemployment remains a concern, as it further increased to 17.2% (national) and 18.6% (in areas outside NCR or AONCR) in July 2018; rise in underemployment for the period has been driven by full-time workers who still want additional hours of work. The high percentage share of inactive youth remains a concern. Nevertheless, the 20.1% year-to-date share of young people that are neither in education nor employment (NEE) average is still within the 19.5-21.5% Philippine Development Plan (PDP) target for 2018.

Against the backdrop of faster growth in the working age population, labor force participation rate (LFPR) slightly dropped to 60.1% in July 2018 from 60.6% of the previous survey period; on a positive note, female LFPR posted slight improvement. Unemployment rate for July 2018 dipped to 5.4%; but structural issues remain as most of the unemployed are relatively young and educated. Other aspects of quality of employment improved, as majority of labor found remunerative work and full-time employment, thereby, increasing the overall mean hours of work.

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