Eastern Visayas posts 5.1% unemployment rate in July 2023

By PSA-8
December 13, 2023

TACLOBAN CITY - Eastern Visayas registered a Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 60.1 percent in July 2023. This placed the region's labor force at 1.98 million persons who were either employed or unemployed out of the estimated 3.30 million population 15 years old and over.

Eastern Visayas' unemployment rate peaked at 5.1 percent in July 2023, higher by 0.9 percentage point than the 4.2 percent unemployment rate in April 2023. The 5.1 percent unemployment rate was equivalent to around 101 thousand persons in the labor force who were unemployed in July 2023, higher by about 11 thousand unemployed persons compared with the 90 thousand unemployed persons in April 2023. The 5.1 percent unemployment rate in July 2023 was also higher compared with the 4.5 percent unemployment rate in July 2022 which was equivalent to 96 thousand unemployed persons. Eastern Visayas ranked fifth among the regions in the country with high unemployment rate, during the period in review.

The region's employment rate in July 2023 decreased to 94.9 percent, from 95.8 percent in April 2023. The 94.9 percent employment rate translates to about 1.88 million employed persons out of the 1.98 million persons in the labor force in July 2023. This number was lower by about 177 thousand employed persons compared with the 2.06 million employed persons reported in April 2023. Furthermore, the number of employed persons in July 2023 was lower by around 130 thousand persons than the estimated 2.01 million employed persons in July 2022. Eastern Visayas registered the fifth lowest employment rate among the regions in the country in July 2023.

Underemployed persons are employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work. The underemployment rate in July 2023 was posted at 25.3 percent or about 477 thousand persons out of around 1.88 million employed persons in July 2023. The 25.3 percent underemployment rate was 7.4 percentage points higher than the rate in April 2023 at 18.0 percent. This was also higher by 9.3 percentage points compared with the 16.0 percent underemployment rate registered in July 2022. Eastern Visayas recorded the second highest underemployment rate among the regions in the country in July 2023, even higher than the 15.9 percent national estimate.