TACLOBAN CITY — The Philippine Statistics Authority regional office here disclosed that there were more jobless people in Eastern Visayas in October 2023 than in October 2022 based on its latest Labor Force Survey.

On Friday, the PSA-8 said that the number of persons employed in October 2023 is “lower by around 15,000 persons than the estimated 2.03 million employed persons in October 2022.”

However, it cited that the employment rate in the last quarter — which stood at 95.8 percent

— “was higher by about 129,000 employed persons compared with the 1.88 million employed persons reported in July 2023.”

Employment rate is the ratio of people employed to the working age population

— 15 years old and above — or the labor force but excludes overseas Filipino workers and those who are not looking for work because of reasons such as housekeeping, schooling, permanent disability and retirement.

The PSA-8 explained that a person is considered employed if he worked even just for one hour during the reference period or worked without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same household related by blood, marriage, or adoption.

It added that Eastern Visayas registered a Labor Force Participation Rate of 63.6 percent in the same period or 2.10 million persons out of the estimated 3.30 million population 15 years old and over.

The survey shows that of the 2.10 million persons, 4.2 percent or roughly 89,000 were without jobs during the same period, which is lower than the 101,000 jobless individuals in July 2023.

However, it is higher than the 63,000 jobless people in October 2022.

On the other hand, out of around 2.01 million employed persons in October 2023 in Eastern Visayas, roughly 399,000 of them or 19.8 percent were underemployed.

These are employed individuals who want additional hours of work in their present job, to have additional jobs, or a new job with longer working hours.