TACLOBAN CITY- The annual rate in Eastern Visayas slightly increased to 95.6 percent in 2017 from 95.5 percent in 2016, ranking sixth among the regions with high employment rate in the country.
Employment rate is the proportion of employed persons to the total labor force.
Out of the estimated 3.0 million population 15 years old and over in 2017, about 1.9 million were economically active or in the labor force.
This number translates to an annual labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 60.3 percent.
This figure is 1.8 percentage points lower compared to the previous year’s LFPR of 62.1 percent. Among the regions, Eastern Visayas registered the sixth lowest annual LFPR.
The underemployed persons or those employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours was estimated at 402,000.
This is equal to an underemployment rate of 22.6 percent lower than the 28.3 percent recorded a year ago. The region had the fourth highest underemployment rate in the country.
Meanwhile, about 82,000 persons in the labor force were unemployed. This translates to an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent slightly lower than the 4.5 percent rate recorded in 2016. Eastern Visayas ranked sixth among the regions with low employment rate.
The preliminary results of the annual labor and employment estimates are based on the average of the four labor force survey rounds (January, April, July, and October). (PR)