The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Ilocos Region - Regional Statistical Services Office I, in celebration of Women’s Month every March, issues a Special Release on Women and Men in the region.

Males dominate Ilocos Region’s household population

Based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing, Ilocos Region had a household population of 5,292,297 persons. Of this total, 81.5 percent or 4,312,927 persons were ten years old and over, with 50.4 percent males and 49.6 percent females. (Figure 1)

Fertility Situation of Women

The Ilocos region registered 841,949 ever-married women (EMW) aged 15 to 49 and 1,748,533 children ever born (CEB) in 2020. On average, these women have 2.1 children signifying that there are at least two children in a household in the region. (Table 1)
 

Of the 842 thousand EMW in the Ilocos Region, 18.6 percent belonged to the 35 to 39 years old group. Similarly, about 235 thousand or 27.9 percent of the total EMW have two children, 21.6 percent of whom are 30 - 34 years old. EMW with one child registered the highest number under the age group 25 to 29 years old at 51 thousand. (Table 1)
 

In 2020, the median age at first marriage among EMW in Ilocos Region was 22.2 years. The age at first marriage refers to the age of the woman when she first got married or lived in a consensual union.

Functional Difficulty

The region recorded 488,436 persons five years old and over who have at least one functional difficulty domain which was equivalent to 10.1 percent of the 4,812,461 total household population five years old and over. The domain includes the difficulty in seeing, hearing, walking, remembering or concentrating, self-caring, and communicating.

The age group 60 to 64 years old recorded 60,013 persons which is the highest among age brackets in the Ilocos Region with at least one domain of functional difficulty. Of the 60,013 persons, 31,560 or 52.6 percent were female, while 28,453 or 47.4 percent were male. The age group 5 to 9 years old has the least number of persons with at least one domain of functional difficulty at 4,448 wherein 1,979 or 44.5 percent were females, and 2,469 or 55.5 percent were males. (Figure 3)

Meanwhile, other religious rites, including Muslim and tribal ceremonies, covered 22.8 percent of the total registered marriages. (Table 2)

Both genders have the highest record of marriages at 20 to 29 years old with 21,164 in total. Of that figure, 11,323 or 53.5 percent were women, and 9,841 or 46.5 percent were men. The age group 30 to 39 years old have the second highest record of marriages at 9,644, wherein there were more men (5,575) than women (4,069). (Table 2)

In October 2022, around 2,304 people were registered in the labor force. Men represented 59.6 percent or 1,326 of the labor force, while women represented 40.4 percent or 886 of the labor force. A total of 2,212 were employed, of which, 59.9 percent or 1,326 are men, and 40.1 percent, or 886 are women. On the other hand, with 91 total unemployed in the labor force, men have the bigger number with 47, or 51.5 percent than women, with 44, or 48.5 percent. (Table 4)

The biggest number of employed persons based on their highest grade completed are Junior High School with 997, of which, 649 (65.1 percent) are men, and 348 (34.9 percent) are women. Among the 649 employed men, 501 are graduates and 148 are undergraduate. Meanwhile, there are 292 employed women who are graduates and 56 employed women who are undergraduate of the 348 employed women with a junior high school as their highest grade completed.

There were 660 employed persons who reported college as their highest grade completed, of which 307 (46.5 percent) are men, and 353 (53.5 percent) are women. Elementary as the highest grade completed employed persons are 369 in total, 257 (69.6 percent) are men, and 112 (30.4 percent) are women. Post-Secondary and Senior High School followed with a total number of 93 and 88 employed persons, respectively.

The least registered employed persons in October 2022 are those with no grade completed constituting 6 employed persons, of which, four are men, and two are women. (Table 5)

In October 2022, most women were employed under the wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles industry, while most men were employed in the agriculture and forestry industry.

The agriculture and forestry industry registered the highest number of workers in October 2022. Of the 541 workers during the period, 396 or 73.3 percent are men, and 144 or 26.7 percent are women. Meanwhile, wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles industry ranked second highest number of workers in which women dominated men with 311 employed women out of the 481 employed persons. (Table 6)
 

The occupation with the highest number of employed persons is under the elementary occupations with 732 employed individuals out of the 2,212 total number of employed persons in October 2022. This was followed by service and sales workers with 537 employed

persons, skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers with 285 employed persons, craft and related trades workers with 133 employed persons, managers with 123, plant and machine operators and assemblers with 122, clerical support workers with 117, and professionals with 104 employed persons. Other occupations which include technicians and associate professionals and armed forces and special occupations consisted of 58 employed persons in total.

Most women were employed under the service and sales workers with a total number of 366 out of the 888 employed women. On the other hand, most men were employed under elementary occupations with 493 share out of the 1,326 employed men. (Table 7)

SDG. ATTY. SHEILA O. DE GUZMAN, CPA
Regional Director, RSSO I