ONE in four employed Filipinos are laborers and unskilled workers, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA data showed elementary occupations make up 25.4 percent of the total employed population in January 2017.
This means that, out of the 39.34 million workers in the country, some 9.99 million are laborers and unskilled workers.
“Elementary occupations involve the performance of simple and routine tasks, which may require the use of handheld tools and considerable physical effort,” the PSA said.
The second-largest group of workers in the country were managers comprising 16.8 percent or 6.61 million of the total number of workers.
The other occupations that account for over 10 percent of workers are service and sales workers at 15.4 percent or 6.06 million and skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers at 13.4 percent or 5.27 million in January 2017.
The occupation that accounted for the smallest share of workers were those in armed- forces occupations, nongainful activities and special occupations with 0.3 percent or 118,041 workers.
Meanwhile, the PSA said seven in 10 persons who were not in the labor force were women. This means that around 69.5 percent or 18.97 million of persons who were not in the labor force were females.
In January the PSA said there were a total of 27.3 million or 39.3 percent of those aged 15 years old and above were not in the labor force.
“Persons not in the labor force are the housewives, students, persons with disability and retirees,” the PSA said.
The data also showed that 43.4 percent of these women who were not in the labor force were young or between the ages of 15 and 24 years old.
The data was part of the final results of the Labor Force Survey (LFS), a nationwide survey conducted by the PSA in January, April, July and October every year.
Overseas Filipino workers are not considered part of the labor force in the Philippines. Hence, in the LFS, data on economic characteristics of household members
who are overseas workers are not collected.
For the LFS reports, they are excluded in the estimation of the size of working population, that is, population aged 15 years and older, and in the estimation of the labor force.