TACLOBAN CITY – The unemployment rate of the region has declined to 8.1 percent in July 2020 from a record-high of 14.3 percent in April 2020, a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) regional office.
PSA Regional Director Wilma Perante said that the 8.1 percent in July 2020 is 3.9 percentage points is higher compared with the 4.2 percent in July 2019.
Perante said that Eastern Visayas ranked 9th among 17 regions in the country with low employment rate.
She explained that unemployment rate is the proportion of unemployed persons to the total labor force while unemployed persons are persons in the labor force who are reported as without work; and currently available for work; and seeking work or not seeking work.
Perante said that out of the estimated 3.1 million population in the region, 15 years old and over in July 2020, about 1.9 million were economically active or in the labor force.
“This number translates to a Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 60.9 percent. This figure is 1.1 percentage point lower compared with the 62.0 percent LFPR in the same period a year ago. Among the regions, Eastern Visayas registered the seventh lowest LFPR,” she said.
The PSA official reported that about 1.7 million persons in the labor force of Eastern Visayas were employed.
“This translates to an employment rate of 91.9 percent or 3.9 percentage points lower than the 95.8 percent employment rate recorded in 2019 but 6.2 percentage points higher than the 85.7% in April 2020,” she said.
Perante also explained that the employment rate is the proportion of employed persons to the total labor force.
She added that among the employed persons in July 2020, 0.8 percent worked for more than 48 hours per week due to the quarantine measures of the COVID-19 pandemic. (RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
