Agriculture Sector Remains the Biggest Employer in CAR

Agriculture and forestry sector remains the biggest employer in the Cordillera region with 43.9 percent or around 336,000 of the 765,000 employed individual based on result of the January 2016 Labor Force Survey recently released by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles ranked as the second labor sub –industry at 12.4% of the total employed persons in January 2016, followed by construction and manufacturing at 7.7 and 2.2%, respectively.

In terms of occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers remain to be the largest group of employed workers in Cordillera at 33.3%; followed by farmers, forestry workers and fishermen; and officials of government and special interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors and supervisors at 21 and 13.6 % of the 765,000 January 2016 workforce, respectively.

The said Labor Force survey shows that there were around 44,000 professionals, 39,000 trade and related workers and 33,000 clerks in Cordillera during the survey period.

The 765,000 workforce of Cordillera during the survey period ranked as the highest among the regions in the country in terms of labor force participation as it comprises 67% of the around 1,194,000 population of 15 years old and over. At the national level, the total labor force is 42.52 million, or around 63.3% of the 67,160,000 Filipinos ages 15 years old and above.

The PSA’s Labor Force Survey provides a snapshot or a quick view of the economically active persons in the country at a particular point or reference period and it aims to monitor the changes in the employment status of persons, both employed and unemployed, in the working age population. ( JDP/CCD – PIA CAR)