First Quarter 2001 Regional Economic Situationer

Western Mindanao

5. Labor and Employment

5.1 Population 15 Years and Over

Household population (15 years old and over) in Region IX was estimated at 1.923 million in January 2001, or a minimal decrease of 0.8 percent compared to the 1.938 million in the same period of last year (Annex 9A). Among the provinces, Basilan and Zamboanga City had an increase of 1.5 and 4.0 percent, respectively for this age bracket over last year, while Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur had a 2.4 and 2.3 percent decrease, respectively. Almost half of the population were from Zamboanga del Sur (42.9%) while a little more than one-tenth of the population were from Basilan (10.4%). Distribution of male and female population is almost the same (50.0 percent) although male population decline by 1.7 percent from 990 thousand in January 2000 to 973 thousand this year.

5.2 Labor Force

About 1.184 million of the 1.923 household population are in the labor force. This represents a Labor Force Participation Rate of 61.6 percent for the quarter (Annex 9B). The region’s labor force are still dominated by males (66.2%) although it declined by 4.0 percent. Out of the total labor force, almost half (44.4%) was from Zamboanga del Sur and almost one-tenth (9.4%) was from Basilan. 

Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) had a minimal decrease of 0.4 percentage point, from 62.0 percent in January 2000 to 61.6 percent this January. The highest rate was in Zamboanga del Norte (66.8%) followed by Zamboanga del Sur (63.8%) however, this is much lower than the 66.0 percent registered over last year. The lowest LFPR was reported in Zamboanga City (52.2%).

5.3 Employment

Of the 1.184 million persons in the labor force, about 92.7 percent (1.097 million) (Annex 9C) are employed while 7.3 percent (87 thousand) (Annex 9D) were reported unemployed in January 2001 . The number of employed persons declined by 2.8 percent from 1.129 million last year due to the slowdown of activities in the agriculture and service sectors In terms of the number of employed, only Basilan and Zamboanga City had a much higher employment figures this January 2001 compared a year earlier.  Almost half (44.9%) of the employed were from Zamboanga del Sur, this however, was lower than the 46.3 percent reported in the previous year.

Employment rate decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 92.7 percent in January 2001, from 94.0 percent a year ago. All the provinces/city experienced lower rate of employment, ranging from 91.0 percent in Zamboanga City to 93.7 percent in Zamboanga del Sur.

Employment by Sector

The higher employment rate of 7.6% posted by the industry sector was not able to offset the decline in employment in the agriculture and service sectors which led to an overall decline of employment in the region by 7.3 percent.  The two sectors did not sustain its growth momentum this quarter as employment declined by 4.5 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively. Zamboanga del Sur, which is predominantly agriculture-based accounts for almost 30 percent of the total employed has lost an estimated 17,000 workers. Zamboanga del Norte, which contributed 15.3 percent of the total agricultural workers, likewise had a decline of 3.4 percent or 6,000 workers.

The services sector, which account for about 37.0 percent of the total employed lost about 15,000 workers due to downsizing, redundancy, company restructuring, among others. Zamboanga City is the only area, which generated additional jobs (4,000 workers) in this sector.

The industry sector which account for about 10.0 percent of the total employed is the only sector which generated additional jobs compared last year as it managed to post a 7.6 percent increase, from 105 thousand in January 2000 to 113 thousand in January 2001, or an additional 8,000 workers (Annex 9F). All the provinces/city reported higher employment in this sector except for Zamboanga del Norte, which declined by 2.6 percent.

5.4  Unemployment

Unemployed persons increased by 20.8 percent or 15,000 workers, from the previous year’s level of 72,000 (Annex 9D). Correspondingly, unemployment rate increased from 6.0 percent to 7.3 percent this January. All the other provinces experienced higher rate of unemployment compared last year. Zamboanga City posted the highest unemployment rate of 9.0 percent, followed by Basilan (8.1%), and Zamboanga del Norte (7.8%).

A total of 16 establishments had reported retrenchment due to economic reasons while 4 establishments were due to non-economic reasons during the 1^st quarter of 2001.  With these a total 892 workers were affected (Annex 9G).  Ten of these establishments were from the services sector while 6 were from the industry sector. A total of 743 workers from canning factories and 75 workers in the plywood industries and construction industries were affected due to end of contract, project completion, lack of market, and peso devaluation. This composed of around 84 workers from M and S Company in Ayala, 75 workers from Everlast Construction, 36 workers from Westzam Trucking Services, 618 workers from Universal Canning Corp, and 11 workers from Mega Fishing Company all in Zamboanga Cit  (Annex 9H and Annex 9I).

 5.5 Persons Not in the Labor Force

Those persons who were not in the labor force (i.e. housewives, students, disabled and retired persons) totaled 742 thousand this January, or a minimal increase of 0.7 percent, from last year’s level of 737 thousand (Annex 9E).  This comprised about 38 percent of the total population 15 years old and over. The biggest share of these persons was from Zamboanga del Sur (40.3%). Almost ¾ of these persons were female (74.8%) although this is lower by 1.6 percent compared a year ago.

5.6 Labor Demands             

A total of 3,150 job vacancies were reportedly solicited in the 1^st quarter of 2001, which was higher than the 1,883 reported in the quarter of 2000 (Annex 9J).  Out of the total job vacancies about 221 jobs were based on the Labor Market Information report from DOLE while the rest have passed through the Public Employment Office (PESO). Unskilled labors such as laborers and masons (46.6%) are still in demand due to more construction activities going on. Sales consultants (21%) are also in demand profession in the labor market. Some of the employers also were looking for engineers (i.e. mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemical, civil and agricultural engineers). There were also jobs available for clerical and related workers; service shops; auto mechanic and light vehicle drivers; and administrative, executives and managerial workers. Majority of these jobs have no age requirements except for sales related workers (Annex 9K).