Employment rate in CV increases by 6.9 percent

The employment rate in Central Visayas has increased according to the latest Labor Force Survey of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics.

BLES said that as of April this year, there are 4.2 million employed persons in the region compared to the 2.3 million employed persons last year.

According to the survey, the employment rate grew by 6.9 percent, while unemployment rate remained at seven percent.

The increase in the employment rate puts the region in the top five regions with high employment rates. Other regions in the top five are the National Capital Region with 4.1 million, Region IV-A with 3.8 million, Region III with 3.1 million and Region VI with 2.7 million.

Region VII also ranked third among regions with highest increase in employment rate following Caraga Administrative Region with 11 percent increase and Region IX with 7.5 percent.

On the other hand, CAR topped the list of regions with the least number of employed individuals with 694,000; followed by Autnomous Region of Muslim Mindanao with 973 and Caraga with 994.

From rank five last year, Central Visayas dropped to rank seventh this year among regions with highest unemployment rate at 7 percent. Last year, Region VII's unemployment rate was pegged at 8.2 percent.

NCR's 14 percent unemployment rate is still the highest across the country, followed by Region III with 11.3 percent; Region IV-A with 10.3 percent; Region I with 8.3 percent; Region XI with 8.1 percent and Region VI with 7.1 percent.

Nationwide, BLES said total number of employed persons in the country increased to 33.024 million from 32.221 million last year. This translates to employment generation of 803,000, exceeding the 682,000 net employment recorded in 2005.

The data also shows that the employment growth rate in the country as of April this year is 2.5 percent, slightly higher than last year's 2.2 percent.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate in the country for the same period this year is pegged at 8.2 percent, a slight decrease from last year's 8.3 percent.

Labor officials attributed the increase in employment and decrease in unemployment to the stable economy of the region and the whole country. - Wenna A. Berondo