TACLOBAN CITY-Eastern Visayas registered a Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 65.6 percent in April 2023.
This placed the region’s labor force at 2.15 million persons who were either employed or unemployed out of the estimated 3.28 million population 15 years old and over.
The 65.6 percent LFPR was higher by 1.9 percentage points than the 63.7 percent LFPR recorded in January 2023. This figure was also higher by 5.6 percentage points compared with the 60.0 LFPR in April 2022.
This means that the labor force in April 2023 was higher by around 73 thousand persons than the 2.08 million persons who were in the labor force in January 2023, and higher by around 202 thousand persons than the 1.95 million labor force in April 2022 (Figure 1).
The region’s employment rate in April 2023 decreased to 95.8 percent, from 96.2 percent in January 2023. The 95.8 percent employment rate translates to about 2.06 million employed persons out of the 2.15 million persons in the labor force in April 2023. This number was higher by about 62 thousand employed persons compared with the 2.00 million employed persons in January 2023. Furthermore, the number of employed persons in April 2023 was higher by around 229 thousand persons than the estimated 1.83 million employed persons in April 2022.
Eastern Visayas’ unemployment rate was estimated at 4.2 percent in April 2023, higher by 0.4 percentage point than the 3.8 percent unemployment rate in January 2023.
The 4.2 percent unemployment rate was equivalent to around 90 thousand persons in the labor force who were unemployed in April 2023, higher by about 11 thousand unemployed persons compared with the 79 thousand unemployed persons in January 2023. The 4.2 percent unemployment rate in April 2023 was lower compared with the 6.0 percent unemployment rate in April 2022 which was equivalent to 116 thousand unemployed persons.
The underemployment rate in April 2023 was posted at 18.0 percent or about 370 thousand persons out of around 2.06 million employed persons registered during the quarter. This was 0.8 percentage point lower than the rate in January 2023 at 18.8 percent. However, this was higher by 3.1 percentage points compared with the 14.8 percent underemployment rate registered in April 2022. (PR)
