The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) – La Union Provincial Statistical Office conducts the quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS) April 2023 round from 10 to 29 April 2023 in enumeration areas located in 12 city/municipalities in La Union.

The LFS is a nationwide survey of households conducted by the PSA to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. It provides information as a basis for the formulation of policies and programs to create and generate gainful employment and livelihood opportunities, reduce unemployment and underemployment, and enhance the welfare of a working person.

This round of LFS considers sample household members’ unpaid work in the past seven (7) days which will provide data on unpaid activities such as unpaid care and domestic work, and the actual number of minutes spent on these activities. The unpaid care and domestic work are increasingly recognized as a critical issue for sustainable development.  This is in fact identified as one of the targets in the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly under Sustainable Development Goal 5 – “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”   This rider question aims to provide statistical information on the equal redistribution of unpaid care and domestic work between women and men in the households.

PSA-La Union hired six Statistical Researchers (SRs) to interview at least 397 sample households through the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) approach using tablets for the LFS April 2023 round.

Sample households are encouraged to participate in this survey by providing complete and truthful data. Pursuant to Section 19 of Republic Act (RA) No. 10173, known as the “Data Privacy Act,” all information gathered in this survey will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Section 26 of RA No. 10625 also stipulates that “individual data furnished by a respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys, and censuses conducted by the PSA shall be considered privilege communication and as such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.”

Meanwhile, the PSA released on 11 April 2023 the preliminary results from the February 2023 LFS.  Some of the highlights of the February 2023 LFS report in the country are as follows:

1. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in February 2023 was registered at 66.6 percent or 51.27 million individuals who were either employed or unemployed out of the 77.00 million Filipinos aged 15 years and over. The reported LFPR in February 2023 was higher than the January 2023 and February 2022 LFPR at 64.5 percent and 63.8 percent, respectively.

2. The country’s employment rate in February 2023 remained at its previous month’s rate of 95.2 percent. In February 2022, employment rate was lower at 93.6 percent. In terms of magnitude, the number of employed persons in February 2023 was estimated at 48.80 million, higher by 3.32 million from the 45.48 million employed persons reported in February last year. 

3. The unemployment rate in February 2023 also remained at its previous month’s rate of 4.8 percent. In February 2022, unemployment rate was higher at 6.4 percent.  In terms of level, the number of unemployed persons was 2.47 million out of 51.27 million Filipinos who were in the labor force in February 2023. 

4. The number of underemployed persons or those employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was recorded at 6.29 million. This translates to an underemployment rate of 12.9 percent, which was lower than the reported underemployment rate in February 2022 (14.0%) and in January 2023 (14.1%).

SGD. DANITES E. TEÑIDO, Ph.D.
Chief Statistical Specialist

/MAQ