A nationwide survey of households undertaken every quarter, designed to provide statistics on levels and trends of employment, unemployment, and underemployment for the country, as a whole, and for each of the country’s administrative regions, including provinces and key cities or municipalities.
Highlights of the 2015 Labor Force Survey
- Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the region increased to 63.4 percent in October 2015 from 62.4 percent in October 2014. Employment rate in October 2015 dropped to 94.5 percent from 95.1 percent in October 2014 while underemployment rate in the region increased to 33.3 percent from 28.9 percent between the two periods.
- Wage and salary workers accounted for 52.3 percent of total employed persons in October 2015. Meanwhile, self-employed persons comprised 33.2 percent and unpaid family workers in own family-operated farm or business made up 11.4 percent of total employed persons for the same period.
- The Services sector absorbed 48.0 percent of total employment in October 2015 displacing the Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishery sector (AHFF) as the biggest employer of the regional economy, AHFF accounted for 36.3 of total employment, Laborers and unskilled workers accounted for 35.8 percent of total employed persons for the same period. About 35.6 percent of total employed persons in October 2015 had elementary education only.
- The region contributed only 3.1 percent of the total number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in 2015, Similarly, Bicolano Overseas Contract Workers (OCW's) constituted only 3.2 percent of the total Filipino OCW's in 2015.
- A total of 54 establishments resorted to closure/retrenchment in 2015 displacing 1,646 workers. More than half of the displaced workers came from the service sector.
- There were 375 Workers; Associations in the region in 2015 with about 15,000 members. only 6 Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) covering 454 workers were filled in 2015.
- Only two strike/lockout notices involving 405 workers were filled with and handled and settled by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) in the region in 2014.
