FOREWORD

          As the world is faced with the daunting global financial crisis situation, accurate information becomes essential to assess the situation and make sound decisions.  As the saying goes, “Forewarned is forearmed.”

          The 27th issue of the Yearbook on Labor Statistics (YLS) provides updates on the 21 chapters on labor, employment and related topics and a chapter of Explanatory Notes that could help the data user in interpreting and understanding the different data sets.   Data contained herein can provide valuable inputs to analyses of industries, labor and employment situation in the country as well as the magnitude of Overseas Filipino Workers around the world that may be affected by the financial crisis.  These can also provide trends of the data that could be bases of analysis.

          Final 2007 data on labor force, employment and unemployment as well as operational statistics of the Department, specifically on local and overseas job facilitation, workers protection and welfare, wages and productivity, labor standards and labor relations are provided herein.  Likewise, results of BLES surveys are included.  Moreover, the Yearbook is complemented by the Bureau’s Current Labor Statistics (CLS) wherein latest preliminary data on the said indicators are reflected.  The Yearbook likewise forms part of the BLES’ 4-in-1 CD publication together with our Philippine Industry Yearbook, Gender Statistics on Labor and Employment, and LABSTAT Updates, available upon request.
  
          This publication is in fulfillment of the Bureau’s mission to provide statistical information and services on labor and employment to support labor administration, governance and international cooperation.  Further, as the BLES has embarked on the project Data Quality Assessment System (DQAS), most of the elements of relevance, accuracy, interpretability, accessibility and coherence dimensions have been ensured/applied so that our users are provided with quality data.

          In connection we this, we are also encouraging our readers/data users to provide us feedbacks as to the usability, contents and appearance of the publication to enable us to further improve it as well as ensure its relevance to our users.  You may forward your comments, suggestions and feedbacks thru e-mail, fax or mail at addresses found at the back of this publication.

BUREAU OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS

February 2009