The report by the Institute for Labor Studies on the latest available Labor Force Survey (LFS) highlighted decent work gains in terms of generating quality employment based on the October 2017 LFS round. The underemployment rate eased considerably by 2.1 percentage points (ppts) from 18.0% to 15.9%, which has been a record low since October 2006.

Moreover, vulnerable employment rate, as measured by share of self-employed and unpaid family workers to total employment, decreased to 33.9% to 36.4% year-on-year. Notably, there was also a decline in the labor force participation rate (at 62.1% from 63.6%) primarily due to more young persons staying in school as a result of the K to 12 implementation and females pulling out of the labor force to assume household duties.

 The full Labor Force survey can be accessed through this link: http://ils.dole.gov.ph/3527-2/

The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) is the policy research and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment. For more information on this story, please contact the Advocacy and Publications Division at 527-3490.