PSA: Smaller percentage of women in labor force

Fewer Filipino women aged 15 years old and above belong to the country’s labor force compared to men, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) gathered by GMA Integrated News Research showed.

Around 21.9 million women, or 56.27% are participating in the labor force as of December 2023. This is lower than men’s participation rate of 76.97% or 30.2 million. 

Of the figures, 21.1 million women are employed, lower than the 29.3 million men who have jobs.

In its December 2022 data, the PSA said 20.6 million women are in the labor force, compared to the 29.1 million men.

Fewer women are underemployed — those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs or to have a new job with longer hours of work. At least 2.1 million women were underemployed while 3.9 million were men. 

Higher salary

As to the major industry divisions, women are mostly employed in wholesale and retail; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; and personal hygiene goods industry.  Men are in agriculture, hunting, and forestry.

There are more women overseas Filipino workers than men — 1,099,000 compared to 726,000.  The most common destination for both is Saudi Arabia.

While they have a lower labor participation rate, the PSA said women earn more than men. 

A 2022 Occupational Wages Survey showed that female workers receive around P745.8 daily or P14,916 median monthly basic pay while males get P720.65 or P14,413. 

In January this year, the PSA said the unemployment rate in the country went down to 3.6%, translating to 1.83 million jobless Filipinos. —LDF, GMA Integrated News