Out of the estimated 60.2 million population 15 years old and over in January 2010, around 38.8 million persons were reported to be in the labor force. This figure placed the January 2010 labor force participation rate (LFPR) at 64.5 percent, increasing by 1.2 percentage points from last year's estimate of 63.3 percent. Among the regions, Northern Mindanao registered the highest labor force participation rate at 70.2 percent while the lowest LFPR was posted in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at 59.2 percent.

The number of wage and salary workers was estimated at 17.5 million, up by 7.5 percent from the July 2005 figure of 16.3 million. The increase was mostly due to the 712 thousand increase in the services sector and 464 thousand in agriculture sector. Meanwhile, the number of own-account and unpaid family workers decreased by 1.8 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. The declines were mainly in the agriculture sector.