Labour market (job market)

information tells you about

the current work and job
environments in specific
regions. It includes
information about specific
companies, industries and
occupations. For example:

 Who is hiring
 What occupations are currently in demand
 Which regions of the province need workers
Learn more about labour market information by
reading Separating the Best LMI from the Rest.

What do you need to know

about LMI?

Several factors influence the labour market.

Understanding their impact allows you to anticipate the
types of skills that will be needed and the kinds of work
that will be available in the future. The following
factors influence Alberta’s labour market:
 Demographics are the characteristics of a
population, such as average age, population size and
projected growth. For example, one influence of the
aging population of baby boomers on the labour
market will be an increased need for services for
seniors.
 Technological change means an increasing
number of occupations require basic computer skills.
One result of this is that no matter what occupation
you choose, computer skills will likely be an asset.
 Globalization means that companies can operate
all over the world and around the clock. One labour
market outcome of globalization is the growth in the
development of call centres.
 Local, provincial and national economic
situations influence the ups and downs of the labour
market, including the strength of specific industries
such as oil and gas, and variations in the overall
employment rate.
 Industry or sector activity is the change in growth
and job outlook in Alberta’s 19 major industries.
 Labour market trends describe the combined
effects of the influences in this list. One example of a
trend is the growing diversification of Alberta’s
economy.
 Key occupational needs and requirements can
change as a result of labour market trends. To learn
about the educational requirements, duties, working
 conditions and salary expectations of over 550
occupations, check out OCCinfo.

How to Use Labor Market

Information to Explore Careers
What the Numbers Can Tell You About an
Occupation
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•••
BY 
DAWN ROSENBERG MCKAY
 
Updated May 10, 2019
Your choice of a particular occupation should stem from the fact that it fits well
with your personality type, interests, work-related values, and aptitude and
that you find the job duties appealing. The educational and training
requirements must also be attainable. But here's one more question to ask
before going forward: Is it possible to build a career in this field? Find the
answer by looking at labor market information.
What Is Labor Market Information?
Data about labor supply and demand, earnings, employment and
unemployment statistics, job outlook, and demographics of the labor
force make up what is known as labor market information. In the United
States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the Department of Labor,
collects and analyzes statistical data about the labor market in this country.
This independent statistical agency then disseminates it to Congress, other
federal agencies, state and local governments, and the public. Many countries
throughout the world have agencies similar to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
If you are in the exploration phase of the career planning process, labor
market information is invaluable. Use it to find answers to many questions,
including:
 Which industries employ people in this occupation?
 Where, geographically, will I be able to find a job?
 Will there be opportunities in the field I am considering after I complete
the required training or education?
 How much will I earn?
Employment, Earnings, and Industries
How many people work in the occupation in which you are interested? Is it a
reasonably large career field or a pretty small one? You can use the
BLS's National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates to find this
information for approximately 800 occupations. This resource also shows
what industries employ people in this occupation. Find earnings here too.
Navigate to the National Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates page, select the major occupational group that contains the one in
which you are interested, and then choose the specific occupation. For
example, if you want to see information about computer programmers, select
"Computer and Mathematical Occupations" and then "Computer
Programmers." 
That will take you to a page that displays a table containing employment
estimates and mean hourly and annual wage estimates for the occupation.
You will also see the percentile wage estimates, including the median
salary (50th percentile) and 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles. Percentile
wage estimates provide an accurate look at the range of earnings in an
occupation by showing the percentage of people earning less than a particular
salary. For instance, if the annual wage of $24,780 is in the 10th percentile, it
means 10 percent of people working in that occupation earn less than that.
This resource also presents information about employment by industry. You
can see which industries employ the most people in general and in the
occupation, and which pay the most.
Location, Location, Location
Are you are willing to relocate for your career or will you limit your job search
to a particular city? Find out where to find the best employment opportunities
for an occupation.
The aforementioned National Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates includes data on which states and which metropolitan and non-
metropolitan areas have the highest levels of employment for an occupation.
Select the career you want to research by following the instructions above.
Find tables that contain this information, as well as ones that tell you which
states, metro areas, and non-metro areas have the highest wages.
What Does the Future Hold in Store?
The BLS predicts how the labor market will change between a base year and
a target year that is 10 years away.  This data, called the outlook, is very
informative as you plan your career. You will want to know your chances of
finding a job after you complete educational requirements. After all, do you
want to spend the time and money to prepare for an occupation if job
opportunities are going to be scarce? Keep in mind the BLS does not account
for recessions or other economic anomalies. The agency generally publishes
employment projections every other year.
One way to access the BLS's employment projections is through the Selected
Occupations Data tool. This database offers the option of searching by
occupation or by education or training category. The output will include the
following:
 Total Employment in Base Year and Target Year
 Employment Change Between Base Year and Target Year (as a
number and a percentage)
 Percentage of Workers in This Occupation Who Are Self-Employed
 Job Openings in Target Year Due to Growth and Replacement Needs
 Median Annual Wages
 Most Significant Source of Post-Secondary Education or Training
The BLS also publishes lists of the fastest growing jobs, fastest growing
industries, and occupations the agency predicts will add the most jobs
between the base year and target year. While this information is helpful, don't
choose a career solely because it is expected to experience rapid growth.
Make sure it is right for you.
If geography is a crucial factor, also investigate what future opportunities will
be where you plan to live. The BLS does not make employment projections on
a state or local level. Individual state agencies make those predictions which
are conveniently gathered on the website Projections Central: State
Occupational Projections.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes two consumer-oriented
resources that present labor statistics in a very user-friendly format. They are
the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Career Guide to Industries.
While these publications don't cover all the occupations followed by BLS, they
are extremely valuable and contain a wealth of information. O*Net Online is
another great source of career information.
 Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH): The BLS publishes this career
encyclopedia which contains some of the information discussed on
page 1, but for fewer occupations. You will find employment, earnings
and projections data for about 250 occupations. The OOH also
includes extensive descriptions and educational, training and
experience requirements, as well as information about advancement
opportunities. It is revised every two years.
 Career Guide to Industries (CGI): This BLS publication is helpful if you
want to learn about a particular industry and find out what occupations
it employs. Find out about earnings, training requirements and
advancement opportunities as well as job prospects and working
conditions.
 O*Net Online: This interactive tool for exploring occupations is
sponsored by the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training
Administration and developed by the National Center for O*NET (the
Occupational Information Network) Development. It covers an
extensive number of occupations and includes BLS data and detailed
descriptions.

Labor Market Trends in the

Philippines
 

 July 13, 2018Posted byASEAN BriefingWritten byVasundhara RastogiReading Time:4 minutes

 
 The Philippines is among Asia’s premier labor markets. The country houses a
large and growing young population with a median age of 23, a vital
demographic advantage that can be leveraged with proper investments in
education and infrastructure.

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 HR & PAYROLL

Currently, about 44.1 million people out of the 70.9 million – aged 15 years
and above – are in the labor force. This is approximately 62.2 percent labor
force participation rate. Such high labor productivity is greatly attributed to the
Philippines’ high literacy rate which stands at around 96.6 percent and is at
par with that of some of the affluent countries of Europe and North America.
The average English proficiency of adults in the Philippines is among the
highest in Asia. The country ranked third, only behind Singapore and
Malaysia, in the Education First English Proficiency Index, 2018.  English is
the primary medium of instruction in academic institutions, government
offices, and in corporate settings.This makes the Philippines the world’s third
largest English-speaking country. Furthermore, the country produces over
600,000 graduates each year, enriching the professional pool.
With such a highly skilled and productive workforce, along with a robust
supply of business process outsourcing services, and sound economic
fundamentals, Philippines has become one of the most attractive destinations
for businesses expanding to Southeast Asia.  

Below we discuss the employment structure and the challenges faced by the
Philippines’ labor market.

Employment structure
The Philippines has a traditional employment structure with services being the
largest employer, followed by agriculture, and industry being the smallest. In
January 2018, five in ten of the total employed were in the services sector,
whereas employment in the industrial sector grew from by 0.7 percentage
points to 18.1 percent. Agriculture contributed to 26 percent of the
employment share, employing an additional 841,000 workers.

The Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) data also shows three in every five,
or 61.2 percent, of the total employed persons, were salaried. Some 27.6
percent were self-employed, while 3.5 percent were employers in own family-
operated farms or businesses, and 7.7 percent were unpaid family workers.

 Labor force distribution

The data in the labor force survey shows that CALABARZON (Region IVA),
National Capital Region (NCR) and Central Luzon (Region III) account for the
largest share in the labor force at 14.2, 12.6, and 10.8 percent respectively.
Central Visayas (Region VII) and Western Visayas (Region VI) follow at 7.6
percent.

The average labor force participation is the highest in the Northern Mindanao
(Region X) at 72 percent followed by Caraga and Cagayan Valley (Region II)
at 67 and 65.3 percent respectively. Regions with the lowest participation
rates are Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Zamboanga
Peninsula (Region IX) at 46.1 and 59.3 percent respectively.

 Informal sector
 According to the PSA, one in every four employed persons are engaged in
elementary occupations, that is 27.6 percent of the total employed population.
Elementary occupations involve unskilled labor, such as street vendors,
construction site workers, cleaners, domestic helpers and farm hands. 

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The Philippines' Investment Outlook for 2018

As the employment in the Philippines is largely concentrated in low

productivity activities, informality looms large; approximately, three-quarters of
all jobs are informal in the country.
In urban areas, outside agriculture, two-thirds of jobs are informal. While six
out of 10 jobs in the wage and salary are informal.

A large informal sector, however, presents big challenges for the Philippines
economy as most of these types of workers cannot easily be absorbed by
high-end employers, such as those in the business-process outsourcing
industry.             

 Other occupational groups

The second-largest group of workers is managers at 16.2 percent, followed by

service and sales workers at 14.7 percent; skilled agricultural, forestry and
fishery workers, 13.1 percent; and craft and related trade workers, 7.1
percent.

As shown in the table below, plant and machine operators and assemblers
account for 6.4 percent; clerical- support workers, 5.6 percent; professionals,
5.3 percent; technicians and associate professionals, 3.7 percent.
  High minimum wage

The Philippines’s labor market provides an attractive prospect for investors

given the large working-age population and growing pool of skilled labor.
However, the country’s minimum wages are higher and labor regulations are
more stringent than many other countries in Asia – increasing costs for
investors.

Currently, the daily minimum wage rate in the Philippines ranges from P340
(US$6.38) a day in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX) to P512 (US$9.61)
a day in the Philippines NCR. The wage rate varies in every region and is set
by tripartite regional wage boards located in each province.

In comparison, the minimum wage rate in neighboring Vietnam ranges

between VND 110,666.67 (US$4.86) and VND 125,000 (US$5.49), per day;
and in Malaysia, it ranges between RM 30.67 (US$ 7.64) – RM 33.33
(US$8.30), per day.

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