The region’s employment rate in January 2023 decreased to 96.2 percent, from 97.0 percent in October 2022.
The 96.2 percent employment rate translates to about 2 million employed persons out of the 2.08 million persons in the labor force in January 2023.
This number was lower by about 31,000 employed persons compared with the 2.03 million employed persons reported in October 2022. However, the number of employed persons in January 2023 was higher by around 257,000 persons than the estimated 1.74 million employed persons in January 2022.
Eastern Visayas registered a Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 63.7 percent in January 2023. This placed the region’s labor force at 2.08 million persons who were either employed or unemployed out of the estimated 3.26 million population 15 years old and over.
The 63.7 percent LFPR was lower by 0.6 percentage point than the 64.3 percent LFPR recorded in October 2022. However, this figure was higher by
5.7 percentage points compared with the 58.0 LFPR in January 2022.
Eastern Visayas’ unemployment rate was estimated at 3.8 percent in January 2023, higher by 0.8 percentage point than the 3.0 percent unemployment rate in October 2022.
The 3.8 percent unemployment rate was equivalent to around 79,000 persons in the labor force who were unemployed in January 2023, higher by about 16,000 unemployed persons compared with the 63,000 unemployed persons in October 2022.
However, the 3.8 percent unemployment rate in January 2023 was better compared with the 7.0 percent unemployment rate in January 2022 which was equivalent to 132,000 unemployed persons.
The underemployment rate in January 2023 was posted at 18.8 percent or about 375,000 persons out of around 2.00 million employed persons registered during the month. This was 3.6 percentage points lower than the rate in October 2022 at 22.4 percent.
This was also lower by 0.9 percentage point compared with the 19.7 percent underemployment rate registered in January 2022. (PR)
