The Labor Force

- Who are considered as part of the labor force those 15 years old and over,
working or seeking work make up the labor force
- Who are not considered part of the labor force the labor force excludes
those who are under 15 years of age, not working and not seeking work
- Are housewives considered as part of the labor force?- No. A housewife is not
regarded as working in the sense of holding a job. Her work is not strictly
considered as gainful employment
- Reasons for not working Have other sources of income, sickness etc
- Two major divisions of labor force: (1) civilian and (2) armed
- Two classifications of civilian labor force: (1) employed, (2) unemployed
-

Labor Force Participation Rate

- Definition: year to year changes in the composition of the labor force; It is a

percentage representing the proportion of the non-institutional population, 15
years and over that is in the labor force, either working or seeking work.
Institutional population includes inmates of penal institutions homes of the
aged and the infirm and hospitals.
- Is important because it described the proportions of adults who are self
supporting and who must support the rest of the population
- What could affect the participation rate? sex distribution, marital status, age
of dependents, customs, conventions, traditional hiring practices,
discrimination in hiring
- Unemployment/Unemployed people Most agree that those who want to
work and are capable of working should have jobs.
o 1/3 of those unemployed were chronically unemployed (unemployed
for 6 months or more)
o Joblessness were more felt within the youngest group aged 18-24
consisting of 40.7%
o Reasons for unemployment
Laid off
No new contract
Company closed
Voluntarily left
Never worked before
o Classifications of unemployed people:
Active unemployed Those actively looking for work
Inactive unemployed Those not looking for work for some
reasons, e.g., belief that no work is available, temporary illness
or disability, bad weather, awaiting result of previous job
application, waiting for rehire or job recall

Philippine Labor Problems

 - Represents conflicts on social reality with social ideas that normally rise out
of employment
- Refers to a working relationship which is considered below the ideal.

Areas of Labor Problems in the Philippines

- Under utilization of labor; Two Forms: (1) working less than they could, daily,
weekly or seasonally. Also means a condition where workers who normally
work full time manifest a productivity that is so low that even if their working
hours are reduced, this would have an almost unnoticeable impact in total
production; (2) Open unemployment of people who are willing and able to
work but cannot find jobs

Labor Under-utilization; Five Forms:

1. Open unemployment: Both voluntary or people who exclude from

consideration some jobs for which they could qualify, implying some means
of support other than employment, e.g. parents are rich, and involuntary.
2. Under-employment Those working less (daily, weekly or seasonally) than
they would like to work.
3. The visibly active but under-utilized - Those who would not normally be
classified as either unemployed or under-employed but who in fact have
found alternative means of making time including:
a. Disguised underemployment Occupied in farms or employed in
government on a full-time basis even though the services they render
may actually require much less than full time; Social pressures on
public and private industry may result also in substantial amounts of
disguised underemployment. If available work is openly shared among
those who are employed, the disguise disappears and
underemployment becomes explicit.
b. Hidden employment those who are engaged in second choice non-
employment sactivities, e.g. education, household chores etc.,
primarily because job opportunities are not available at the level of
education already attained or for women, given social mores.
c. Premature retirement still active to do work or become part of the
labor force, but for reasons such as lesser promotion opportunities,
forced to retire.
4. The Impaired Those who may work full time but whose intensity of effort is
seriously impaired through malnutrition or lack of common preventive
medicine
5. The unproductive Those who can provide the human resources necessary
for productive work but who struggle long hours with inadequate
complementary resources to make their inputs yield even the essentials of
life.
The Overseas Filipino Workers

- Reasons Why Filipinos Migrate

o Migration appears to be motivated by financial considerations; Lack of
job opportunities here
o Increase the families social mobility Views that migration is the
means of obtaining capital on certain investments such as purchase
of alnd, transport machinery or even a small business
- Definition (by POEA) employees who will work, are already working, or have
worked in another country receiving a monthly salary for services rendered.
- Classifications:
o Landbased
Agency hired those recruited by licensed agencies on behalf of
their accredited foreign employers
Land-based returning workers (Balik manggagawa) OFWs
(except seafarers) who are on vacation or on agency leave, and
who are returning to the same worksite, to resume their
employment within 6 months from the date of arrival in the
Philippines
Namehires workers who are able able to secure an overseas
employment contract on his own without the assistance or
participation of POEA or any recruitment agency. They directly
applied to a foreign employer in their own effort or through
connections to another country.
Government Hire Employees whom the POEA helps by looking
for foreign employers through an agreement with the
government of another country that is in need of foreign
employees.

o Seabased Workers
Seafarers employees of ship or any sea vessel