MANILA -  A labor rights think tank on Monday blasted the government's official definition of what counts as an employed person. 

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) said it was dismayed that the Labor Department counts someone who worked for just one hour in a week as already employed. The group said the definition is harmful to the labor and human rights of Filipinos as one hour of employment does not amount to decent work. 

"Working for one hour will get a worker nowhere," CTUHR said in a statement.

Unemployment rate climbs to 4.7 percent in July

It noted that based on this definition, a worker who receives the P645 minimum wage in Metro Manila will only receive around P80. 

"Because the standard for considering a person as employed is very low, many Filipinos become considered as employed. Because many Filipinos are already considered employed, the government can continue refusing to take decisive action to create decent jobs in the country by improving manufacturing and agriculture," the group added.

This meant that the country’s 95.3 percent employment rate in July, which already represents a decrease from 96.9 percent in June, still hides a higher percentage of real unemployment and underemployment, CTUHR said.

The group said the "very low standard" for considering a person employed creates the false impression that the employment situation in the country is rosy. 

"We are calling on the DOLE and the government to immediately review the definition and come up with a new one that is more realistic for Filipinos, and more compatible with Filipinos’ labor and human rights," the group said. 

In December last year, the independent research group Social Weather Stations published a study showing that joblessness reached 16.9 percent in September 2023, which was much higher than the official 4.5 percent unemployment rate reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

SWS said part of the discrepancy stems from its researchers asking directly if the respondent has work at present. In contrast, the PSA specifies a minimum of one hour of work to be counted as employed. 

"The leniency of this requirement made it very easy to be officially categorized as employed," SWS has said. 

SWS said its jobless rate is more comparable to the combined unemployment and underemployment figures of the PSA. The PSA meanwhile has maintained that its definition of unemployment and underemployment are based on international standards.