CORDILLERA Administration Region’s (CAR) labor force decreased by 1.6 percent from 65.8 to 64.2, according to a report by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Despite the decrease, Cordillera is one of the highest in the country in terms of labor force participation rate (LFPR) at 62.1 percent.
Based on the October 2017 Labor Force Survey (LFS) the Philippines’s LFPR of persons whose age is 15 years old and over was estimated at 62.1 percent or about 43.7 million individuals. This means that six in every ten individuals aged 15 years old and over were either employed or unemployed.
“If they are not working, or they do not intend to work they are not in the labor. The 15 years old and over are in the labor force while the rest are not working,” said PSA-CAR statistical operation and coordination division chief Aldrin Frederico Bahit Jr.
LSF serve as a nationwide survey done quarterly among households which provides the stock of economically active persons in the country which also monitors the changes in the employment.
Bahit added most of the employed are in the high school level which is highest rate completed and engage more on the service industry.
In the region employment rate increase by 0.8 percent from 95.9 percent in October 2016 to 96.3 percent in October 2017.
The service industry employs the most with 44.3 percent share in October 2017 while agriculture followed with 42.6 percent.
Of the estimated 769,000 employed persons in Cordillera, 60.4 percent or 464,476 individuals were males, while 39.6 percent or about 304, 524 individuals were females.
Employed males in the region increased by 0.9 percent to 60.4 percent in October 2017 compared to the same period last year with 59.5 percent. While a corresponding decrease of 0.9 percent was recorded in the employed females from 40.5 percent to 39.6 percent in the same period.
Unemployment decreased by 0.9 percent to 3.6 percent in October 2017compared to the 4.5 percent recorded in 2016.
Those who had junior high school education dominated the labor force with 37.8 percent, of which 25.1 percent graduated while 12.7 percent did not graduate. Employed persons with college education followed with 33.1 percent of the regional total.
Of these, 21.2 percent graduated while 11.9 percent were undergraduates.