ki proctober 1990 to 15.6 per cent in October 1999. It Sppears that the leavers went to the service industry “whose t share expanded from 39.7 per cent in 1990 44,2 per cent in 1999, This forced absorption of 6. The LFS of July 2000 indicate that the agriculture ‘eector suffered a cutback (1.188 million or 10.1 per cent) after registering an increase (0.8 million) in July 1999. in 2001, its share in the total employment again fell to 35.1 per cent from 37.4 per cent. On the other sand, industry employment rose by 5.7 per cent, following a slump in 1999. All sub-sectors posted yositive growth rates led by the manufacturing sector ‘and followed by the construction sector, mining and ‘quarrying sector, and electricity, gas and water that hit the Visayan region in 1990 and a destructive earthquake that hit the capital and the Central Luzon region, and the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991. In 1992, the drop in unemployment rate was the result of the generally improving economic situation brought about by economic reforms and good weather conditions. In 1998, unemployment rate rose sharply to 10.1 per cent following the Asian financial crisis and the El Nino phenomenon which hit the country in 1997 and 1998. In 1999, unemployment declined to 9.7 per cent after the economy rate recovered from the crisis. 92. In 1999, male workforce was reported at 62.3 per cent of the country’s labor force. Although females comprised only more than one-third of the labor force, jobless rate was a little higher among females at 9.9 per cent as against 9.5 per cent for the males. “sector. Fen The rapid expansion in the labor force and the ‘moderate performance of the economy resulted in the "increase of unemployed persons over time. Except \fora decline in 1999, the number of unemployed rose ‘gradually from 3.04 million in 1998 to 3.93 million in 93. Unemployment is basically an urban phenomenon. In 1999, less than two-thirds of the unemployed were urban dwellers (61 per cent). Jobless rate in the urban areas was about twice (12.6 per cent) the rate of unemployment in the rural labor market (7.1 per cent). | 2003. Unemployment rate declined slightly from 10.3 “per cent in 1998 to 9.8 per cent in 1999 and rose to Underemployment i. 2 per cent in 2000. |88. Unemployment is largely a problem of young ‘unskilled and inexperienced labor force. The youth, ‘defined as persons 15 to 24 years old, accounts for one half of those totally unemployed. Youth [Unemployment rate is more than twice the national |Unemployment rate (21.4 per cent in 1998 and 23.2 | percent in 2003). Most of those who are unemployed ‘Were school-leavers - vacationing and graduate 94, Underemployment is a more serious problem in the Philippine labor market than unemployment because it cuts across all age barriers and its magnitude is almost twice that of the unemployed persons. Underemployment rate picked in 1998 (21.6 per cent), 1999 (22.1 per cent) and 2000 (21.7 per cent) and thereafter stabilized at 17.0 per cent from 2001 to 2003 as a result of the recovery in agricultural employment. ‘students looking for work during off school season = and this explains why April is typically associated with the highest unemployment rate. 89. The male comprised 60.6 per cent of the total ‘unemployed in 2003. However, male unemployment fate (11.3 per cent) is slightly lower than their female 95. In 2003, a total of 5.21 million employed persons were counted as underemployed in the sense that they wanted to work for more hours than they actually did. This figure represents a substantial decline from the peak recorded in 1999 at 6.127 million. Measured against the number of hours worked during the past ‘Counterpart (11.5 per cent). 90. It is also noted that week, nearly two-thirds (63.7 per cent) or 3.32 million ‘Unemployment rate tends to be higher in developed ‘f€gions such as, the NCR (17 per cent), Region III (12.1 were visibly underemployed, i.e. they worked than the 40 hours equivalent of full-time jobs. per cent) and Region IV (12.9 per cent), as compared to less developed regions such as, Region II (6.3 per cent), CAR (8.9 per cent) and Region IX (7.8 per cent). 31. The rate of unemployment throughout the less 96. Underemployment is more of a rural phenomenon. For 2003, underemployment rate was posted highest in less developed regions, such as Regions II (20.1 per cent), V (30.4 per cent) and X (30.5 per cent), ‘Nineties exhibited a generally fluctuating trend, From and lowest in developed regions, such as the National an average of 8.4 per cent in 1990, unemployment Capital Region (NCR) (9.6 per cent), Region Ill (9.2 per cent), Region IV-A (12.3 per cent) and Region VII (11.3 per cent), fate rose to an average of 10.6 per cent in 1991. This resulted from the power crisis, a super typhoon PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT'S 2ND TO 4TH PERIODIC REPORT 7