Most employed Filipinos work longer than required

Filipino workers continue to clock in more than the usual 40 hours per week, on the average, even as the number of jobholders surged by about 360,000, according to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES).

Based on the National Statistics Office’s labor force survey as of October 2012, the average work week was 41.9 hours, placing it above 40 hours for the second consecutive quarter.

Of the 37.7 million employed Filipinos then, 24.2 million or about two-thirds worked beyond the usual 40-hour work week. Back then, 93.2 percent of those actively seeking work did have jobs.

Within this group, 14.5 million or two out of every three people with jobs clocked between 40 and 48 hours. Another 8.8 million or about a quarter of those employed worked 49 hours or more.

The number of workers soldiering on beyond 40 hours a week as of October was less than the 24.6 million counted three months before, but is more than the 23.8 million counted a year before.

In July 2012 and October 2011, jobholders numbered 37.6 million and 38.6 million, respectively. Back then, the employment rate was 92.9 percent and 93.6 percent, respectively.

In a report issued earlier, the BLES said the number of people from poor households joined the ranks of the employed, but this did not put a dent on poverty in the country.

BLES data showed that the number of the working poor rose by 18 percent to 7.9 million as of 2009 from 6.7 million in 2003.

The BLES report was based on the latest available data from the National Statistics Office’s Family Income and Expenditures Survey or FIES.