Ilocos region’s employment rate rises to 94.1% – PSA

The Ilocos Region is outlined in red. (Image from Google Maps)

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Philippines — The regional Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has reported an almost 2-percent increase in the number of employed individuals in the Ilocos region in a survey conducted in April, which brought the employment rate of the province to 94.1 percent.

In a virtual forum on Friday, the PSA presented the results of the Labor Force Survey from April which showed that the rate of employment among those in the labor force, composed of individuals aged 15 years old and above, inched up by 1.6 percent.

The 94.1-percent employment rate in April this year was higher compared to 92.5 percent recorded during the same period last year. The recent figure was also higher than the employment rate recorded in the region in January 2022 at 92.8 percent, the PSA said.

PSA Ilocos region chief Sheila de Guzman said the figures translated to around 2.3 million individuals employed, out of the total 2.5 million who were in the labor force in April.

She said the agriculture, industry, and services sectors were the biggest employers in the region composed of the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, and Pangasinan.

The labor force participation rate — or the proportion of the working-age population that is either employed or looking for jobs — was estimated at 68.5 percent.

“This means that seven in every 10 of the population age 15 years and over were either employed or unemployed,” the PSA report noted.

The regional unemployment rate also declined to 5.9 percent, or translating to 147,000 unemployed persons in April.

—JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS

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