Module 1: Labor Force Survey Basic Building
Blocks of the
Primer on the Philippine Labor Force Survey (LFS)
Labor Force:
Collecting Agency Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA)
Method of Data National Sample
Collection Survey
Responding Unit Household
Four times a year
Frequency of
January,April, July,
Collection
November
Reference Period Past Week
Sample Size 51,000 households
Sampling Design Domain - 17
administrative regions
Sampling Frame - 2000 3 Rules in sorting a Person’s Labor Force Status
Census of Population
1. Short Reference Period:
Stratification -
population size, - A period short enough to reflect the
urbanity and socio- labor supply situation at specified
economic condition time period usually one day or one
Dissemination Press Release - 45 days week.
after reference Month
PSA website
2. Activity Principle:
Six (6) months after
reference period (Final) - A person’s status should reflect what
the person is actually doing.
Major Source
of Labor 3. Priority Rule:
Market - Classification into three
Information: mutually exclusive
and exhaustive categories.
Provides the most comprehensive data sets
on labor force, employment, unemployment Three (3) Categories of Status in
and underemployment; and Employment:
Provides the most current or updated data 1. Employed:
sets that describe the country’s employment - Persons who have worked at least one
situation. hour or with a job but not at work
during the reference week.
2. Unemployed:
- Persons without a job, available and
looking for work during the reference
week.
3. Not in the Labor Force:
- Person who are economically inactive.
Working Age Population: - The proportion of the population 15 years old
and over in a given sex or age group who are
- It refers to the population above a specified in the active labor force.
minimum age (15 years old and over) who could
produce the goods and services if there was a demand - Provides an indication of the relative size of
for their labor and if they desire to participate in such the supply of labor available to engage in the
activity. production of the goods and services /
exerting pressure in the labor market.
- Also known as: (a) potentially supply of labor
(b) potential manpower human resources. Employment to
Population
Working Age Population: Ratio:
Two Components: EPR= (E/P) x 100
a. Economically Active (or labor force) Where:
EPR = Employment Population Ratio
b. Economically Inactive (not in the labor force)
E = Total number of employed persons
Economically Active Population or Labor Force P = Total Population 15 years old and over
- All persons of working age and either sex who - The proportion of the population of 15 years
furnish the supply of labor for the production of old and over that is employed.
economic goods and services during a specified time - A measure of the ability of the economy to
reference period. provide employment to its working population
or to provide jobs for those who want to
- Sub-set of the working age population who work.
are in the actual labor force.
Household
Economically Active Population or Labor Force
Two components of the labor force: - An aggregate of persons, generally but not
necessarily bound by ties of kinship, who sleep in the
1. Employes same dwelling unit, and have common arrangements
for the preparation and consumption of food.
2. Unemployed
LaborForce
1. Labor Force:
*both exert pressure in the labor market*
- Persons 15 years old and over who during the
Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR)
reference period were either employed or
unemployed.
LFPR = Labor Force
Total Adult Populations 2. Not in the Labor Force:
- Persons 15 years old and over who
Where, LFPR = labor force participation rate are neither employed or unemployed,
e.g. full-time students, stay at
home housewives , retirees, etc.
3. New Entrants to the Labor Force: Employed persons who expressed the desire to have:
- Employed persons who worked for
the first time and unemployed Additional hours of work in their present job;
persons who looked for work for the or
first time. Additional job; or
A new job with longer working hours
Work
Types of Underemployment:
Any economic activity that a person does:
1. Visibly Underemployed
- For pay in cash or in kind, in any
establishment, office, farm or private home; Worked less than 40 hours during the reference week.
- For profit; or 2. Invisibly Underemployed
- Without pay on family farm or enterprise Worked 40 hours or more during the
reference week;
Employed Persons (may reflect imbalance on the allocation of
resources; job mismatch)
Persons 15 years old and over who during the
reference period were reported at work even Unemployed Persons
for an hour.
Persons 15 years old and over who simultaneously
Also included are: satisfy the following three criteria:
1. Persons with a job / business even though not at Did not work or hard no job / business;
work because of temporary illness / injury, vacation or Looking for seeking work; and
other leave of absence, bad weather or strike / labor Available to take up work during the basic
dispute or other reasons. reference period or within two weeks after
the interview date.
2. Persons who are expected to report for work or to
start operation of a form or business enterprise within Also included as part of the unemployed are those
two weeks from the date of the enumerator’s visit. persons who were jobless and available for work
but did not look for work due to the following
3. Person in Full-Time Employment: reasons:
o Belief that no work was available
(discouraged unemployed);
A person who works 40 hours or more during
the reference week. o Temporary illness / disability;
o Bad weather;
4. Person in Part-Time Employment: o Awaiting results of previous job
application; and
A person who works less than 40 hours during o Waiting or rehire / job recall
the reference week.
Underemployed Persons
4. Always bear in mind the “break” in the LFS data
series, the existing data series covers the period 2006
to present.
5. Be cautious in comparing the LFS with other
sources of data.
Measure of Labor Market Performance
Remember
Job
An activity that a person does for a living:
A set of tasks and duties which are carried out
by, or can be assigned to, one or more
persons (ILO definition)
A person can be counted several times
depending on the number of jobs held.
Employment:
Persons or individuals at work
The LFS counts persons at work not jobs
In the LFS, a person can be counted only once
regardless of the number of jobs he / she
Data Limitations
holds.
Short reference period
Absence of provincial data
Data reliability subject to proxy respondents
Break in the data series due to changes in
reference period coverage and population
projection benchmark
- Major change in definition in
April 2005 on unemployment
Some Guidelines in Using LFS Data
1. Never use the term “job” as synonymous to
EMPLOYMENT. The LFS is counting people at work
and not the number of “jobs.”
2. Comparison of data should be made on a
“year-on-year” basis not on monthly “survey round”
basis – note: LFS data series is subject to seasonality.
3. Never use the term “Quarter”. The LFS is based on a
“past week reference period not “Quarter”
