ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/17 September) – Zamboanga Peninsula and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are among the four regions in the country that have registered high employment rates in July this year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) announced.
Zamboanga Peninsula posted a 96.7% employment rate while the ARMM posted 96.
3 percent, respectively. The National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest employment rate at 89.1 percent, the NSO data showed
This, as the NSO announced that the number of employed persons in July this year was estimated at 37.1 million based on its Labor Force Survey (LFS) for the said period, translating to an employment rate of 92.9 percent.
The NSO’s announcement released last Thursday showed that Zamboanga Peninsula and ARMM ranked second and third, respectively, in terms of employment rate in the entire country with Cagayan Valley occupying the top spot with an employment rate of 97.6 percent.
Fourth in terms of employment rate is MIMAROPA with 96.2 percent.
The July 2011 LFS also revealed that the number of persons in the labor force, or those who were either employed or unemployed, is approximately 39.9 million out of the estimated 62.0 million population 15 years old and above.
The NSO said these numbers translate to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.3 percent, compared to last year’s figure of 63.9 percent.
The LFPR was highest in MIMAROPA at 69.8 percent, and lowest in ARMM at 54.1 percent.
Of the estimated 37.1 million employed persons in July 2011, those in the services sector comprised the largest proportion, accounting for more than half (52.
2 percent) of the total employed population.
Around one-third (32.6 percent) were in the agriculture sector and the rest (15.2 percent) were in the industry sector.
Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest group, making up 32.6 percent of the total employed population. This was also the largest occupation group in July 2010 (31.8 percent).
Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen were the second largest group of workers accounting for 15.2 percent of the total employed.
Employed persons fall into any of these categories: wage and salary workers, self-employed workers without any paid employee, employer in own-operated farm or business and unpaid family workers.
Employed persons are classified as either full-time workers or part-time workers. (MindaNews)