Fifty percent of the household population 15 years old and over are engaged in a gainful activity
In 2020, the province of Palawan had 613,692 household population 15 years and over. Of this total, around 307,718 persons or 50.1 percent were engaged in a gainful activity during the 12 months preceding the census. This was 2.3 percentage points lower than the regional proportion of persons engaged in a gainful activity at 52.4 percent. (Figure 1 and Table A)
Among its 23 municipalities, Kalayaan had the highest proportion of gainful persons during the 12 months preceding the census at 88.9 percent. This municipality surpassed the provincial proportion by 38.8 percent and the regional proportion by 36.5 percentage points. (Figure 1)
Moreover, Bataraza ranked second with 55.4 percent, and Coron ranked third with the corresponding proportion of gainful persons at 53.7 percent. Other eight municipalities in the province that exceeded the provincial proportion includes El Nido (Bacuit) (53.5%), Agutaya (53.0%), Busuanga (52.3%), Narra (52.1%), Balabac (51.3%), Culion (51.3%), Roxas (51.2%), and Quezon (50.9%). (Figure 1 and Table A)
More than three in every four persons who were engaged in a gainful activity are males
Among 307.7 thousand persons with gainful activity in all 23 municipalities of Palawan, males comprised 76.8 percent while females accounted for the remaining 23.2 percent. Bataraza showed the highest number of persons with gainful activity at 28.9 thousand persons (9.4%) and was followed by Narra with 27.5 thousand persons (9.0%), and Taytay with 24.8 thousand persons (8.1%). (Table 1 and Table A)
In terms of proportion of males with gainful activity, Linapacan was the highest at 86.8 percent and was followed by Rizal (Marcos) at 84.0 percent, and Araceli at 82.7 percent. On the other hand, Kalayaan (37.5%), Agutaya (29.6%) and Magsaysay (29.0%) were the 23 municipalities having the highest proportion of females with gainful activity. (Table 1 and Table A)
Nearly seven out of nine gainful workers’ age falls between 20 to 44 years old
The highest representation of gainful persons in terms of age group falls between 25 to 29 years with a total of 44,983 persons or 14.6 percent of the total number of gainful workers in the province of Palawan. Other age groups with more than 10.0 percent share to the provincial number of gainful workers include 30 to 34 years with 40.7 thousand persons (13.2%), 35 to 39 years with 37.6 thousand persons (12.2%), 20 to 24 years with 36.1 thousand persons (11.7%), and 40 to 44 years with 33.3 thousand persons (10.8%). In addition, 32.0 thousand senior citizens had gainful activities which corresponds to a 10.4 percent share (60 to 64 years: 4.7%, 65 years and over: 5.7%). Meanwhile, gainful persons whose age 15 to 19 years had the smallest representation with 9.4 thousand persons or 3.1 percent of the provincial total gainful persons. (Table 2 and Table B)
In terms of sex, males had the bigger share among gainful persons 15 to 19 years at 76.8 percent. Other age groups that exceeded the provincial proportion of males with gainful activities include 15 to 19 years (78.3%), 35 to 44 years (77.6%), 30 to 34 years (77.2%), and 45 to 49 years (77.1%). Meanwhile, males had the smallest share among persons with gainful activities whose age is 60 to 64 years at 75.1 percent. (Table 2 and Table B)
More than four in every nine gainful persons are skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers
Among the major occupation groups, skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers was the largest. This comprises 134.4 thousand persons with a corresponding 45.3 percent share of the provincial total number of persons with gainful activity in 2020. It was followed by elementary occupation with 52.0 thousand persons (16.9%), and service and sales workers with 33.6 persons (10.9%). (Table 3 and Table B)
Meanwhile, armed forces occupations had the smallest share to the provincial total number of gainful workers at 0.2 percent. Clerical support workers followed with a share of 2.5 percent. (Table B)
Males out proportioned females among the total gainful workers. However, by major occupation group, females outnumbered males among the professional gainful workers (female: 70.9%, and male: 29.1%), clerical support workers (female: 58.5%, and male: 41.5%), managers (female: 57.2%, and male: 42.8%), and service and sales workers (female: 52.1%, and male: 47.9%). (Table 3 and Table B)
On the other hand, the top three major occupation groups where males dominated females include plant and machine operators, and assemblers (female: 2.7%, and male: 97.3%), skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (female: 8.0%, and male: 92.0%), and armed forces occupation (female: 9.3%, and male: 90.7%). (Table 3 and Table B)
More than half of the province’s gainful persons are in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector
By major sector of business / industry, the largest share of gainful workers was reported in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) sector with 53.7 percent. The services sector accounted for 33.7 percent, and 12.4 percent of the gainful persons were from the industry sectors. (Figure 2 and Table D)
Moreover, the AFF sector was predominant on the gainful activities of persons 15 years old and over who reside in the 19 out of 23 municipalities (82.6%) of Palawan. This include Balabac (82.7%), Agutaya (77.4%), Linapacan (76.9%), Rizal (Marcos) (76.0%), and Araceli (73.4%). On the other hand, the gainful employment of persons 15 years old and over who reside in the municipalities of Kalayaan (76.8%), El Nido (Bacuit) (48.8%), Coron (47.8%), and Narra (45.3%) were predominantly service-based. Although none of its municipalities were predominantly industry-based gainful activities, it can be noted that the following municipalities had industry with at least 15 percent share to its number of gainful persons, namely: Kalayaan (19.6%), Bataraza (19.1%), Busuanga (16.4%), Aborlan (15.3%), and Culion (15.2%). (Figure 2 and Table D)
Two in every five of the population involved in gainful activity are self-employed without any paid employee
Among the seven classes of workers in the province, those who are self-employed without any paid employee topped with 122.8 thousand gainful workers (39.9%). This was followed by those who worked for private businesses, enterprises, or farms with 95.1 thousand (30.9%), and government corporation workers with 34.5 thousand (11.2%). Meanwhile, working with pay in their own family-operated farm or business was reported as the least common class of worker, with nearly 1.4 thousand persons (0.4%). (Figure 3 and Table E)
More than 17 in every 20 gainful workers work in the same province and city/municipality of their residence
During the 12 months preceding the census, people with gainful activity who worked in the same municipality of their residence accounted for 91.5 percent of the gainful workers 15 years old and over. Meanwhile, 5.6 percent worked within the same province of their residence but in a different province, and 1.1 percent worked in a different municipality. (Figure 4 and Table F)
Across municipalities, the highest proportion of gainful persons who worked in the same municipality and city of residence was at the Coron at 97.0 percent. Moreover, Cagayancillo had the highest proportion of gainful persons who worked within the municipality but different municipality of residence at 11.4 percent. Furthermore, Cuyo had the highest proportion of gainful persons who worked in a foreign country at 1.8 percent and had the highest incidence of gainful persons who worked in a different province at 11.0 percent. (Table F)
Nearly three out of four persons who were engaged in non-gainful activities are female
In 2020, a total of 305,974 persons in Palawan were engaged in non-gainful activities or special occupations in the past 12 months. This translates to 49.9 percent of the provincial’s household population 15 years old and over. Reported non-gainful persons can be either housekeepers in their own home, students, pensioners, retired, persons with disability, dependent, new workers seeking employment, or experienced workers seeking employment. (Table G)
Of the total number of non-gainful persons in the province, nearly 223.7 thousand were females (73.1%), while about 82.2 thousand were males (26.8%). In terms of age groups, nearly three out of ten non-gainful persons, or 29.6 percent fell between 15 to 19 years with a total of 90.5 thousand. This was followed by 20 to 24 years with 52.0 thousand non-gainful persons (17.0%), and 25 to 29 years with 30.9 thousand non-gainful persons (10.1%). (Table G)
Among the municipalities, Taytay showed the highest number of non-gainful persons at nearly 29.3 thousand or 9.6 percent share to the provincial total number of non-gainful persons. Narra followed this with a total of 25.3 thousand (8.3%) and Brooke’s Point with 24.8 thousand (8.1%). (Table G)
The statistics presented in this special release were based on the information provided by the respondent or any responsible member in the household who may provide accurate answers to the questions and give correct information about the household.
(SGD) LENI R. RIOFLORIDO
Regional Director
MLLM / RRL / CNB
