DOLE: Filipinos are considered employed if they work one hour per ‘reference period’

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) considers a Filipino employed if they have worked at least one hour when the survey was taken. 

This was stated by DOLE Undersecretary Carmela Torres during the Senate hearing on DOLE's proposed budget for 2025 on Thursday, September 5 when asked by Sen. Loren Legarda for their definition of an "employed person."

“If you have worked at least one hour, considered po kayong employed. One hour, at the time of the survey, so ‘yan po yung national definition ng employed,” Torres said.

(If you have worked at least one hour, you are considered employed. One hour, at the time of the survey, so that is the national definition of the employed.)

Torres said that this is also the international definition, according to the International Labor Organization. The Philippine Statistics Authority is the agency implementing the survey. 

Legarda then clarified if Torres meant an hour in a day, a week or a month and the DOLE official said it was within the “reference period”. 

Asked how long the reference period was, Torres said it “depends”. 

The ILO defines an employed person as “all persons who worked for pay or profit, or worked as unpaid family workers for at least one hour during the reference week.”

The senators present questioned why the definition was so loose. 

The Philippine employment rate was recorded at 96.9% as of June 2024, with an unemployment rate of 3.1%. 

“We feel, when we go out, that the statistics do not align with reality because the international definition is so broad,” Legarda said in a mix of English and Filipino.