Highlights of the 2021/2022 Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment (ISLE) - Occupational Shortages and Surpluses: September 2021 to August 2022

The 2021/2022 Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment covers formal establishments employing at least 20 workers. The module on occupational shortages and surpluses gathered data on vacancies by type, difficulty in filling-up, applicants-to-vacancies ratio, and ways of recruiting applicants.

1. Establishments that Posted Job Vacancies was estimated at 35.8 percent

a. From September 2021 to August 2022, 35.8 percent of the 36,342 estimated number of formal establishments employing 20 or more workers had posted job vacancies. Job vacancies refer to unfilled job openings that are immediately available for placement and where active recruitment steps are being undertaken. (Table 1)

b. Among major industry groups, Human Health and Social Work Activities except Public Health Activities had the highest proportion of establishments employing 20 or more workers that had job vacancies at 62.7 percent. This was followed by Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply (55.9%), and Information and Communication (43.8%). In contrast, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing recorded the lowest proportion of establishments employing 20 or more workers with job vacancies at 13.4 percent. (Figure 1 and Table 1)

2. Number of Job Vacancies was Highest in Administrative and Support Service Activities

a. A total of 464,593 vacant positions were recorded for establishments employing 20 or more workers. Administrative and Support Service Activities had the highest share to total job vacancies at 43.1 percent. This was followed by Manufacturing at 20.0 percent, and Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles at 11.0 percent. On the other hand, Other Service Activities except Activities of Membership Organizations recorded the least number of job vacancies at 649 or 0.1 percent of the total. (Figure 2 and Table 2)

b. By major occupational group, most of the job vacancies came from clerical support workers at 31.0 percent. This was followed by professional workers (18.0%) and technicians and associate professionals (14.5%). Meanwhile, skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers had the lowest share of job vacancies at 0.5 percent. (Figure 2 and Table 3)

c. Large establishments or those with employment size of 200 and over posted the biggest share of job vacancies at 76.5 percent. Small establishments or those with employment size of 20-99 contributed 15.6 percent, while medium establishments or those with employment size of 100-199 contributed 7.9 percent to the total number of job vacancies. (Figure 2 and Table 4)

d. Job vacancies can either be regular or non-regular positions. Regular positions constituted 74.3 percent share to the total job vacancies, while non-regular positions comprised 25.7 percent share. (Figure 2 and Table 4)

e. Entry-level positions, which are starting positions that require little to no experience, comprised the majority (82.6%) of the total job vacancies. This was followed by junior level position at 13.6 percent, while senior and executive positions recorded shares of 3.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. (Figure 2 and Table 4)

3. Hard-to-fill Positions comprised 51.5 percent of all Job Vacancies

a. Among the total number of job vacancies, 239,254 or 51.5 percent were hard to fill. Hard-to-fill positions pose difficulties in recruitment such as lack of applicants, lack of years of experience, and lack of competency and/or skill among others. The remaining 48.5 percent were easy-to-fill or job vacancies that had no difficulty during recruitment. (Figure 3, Tables 2 and 3)

b. By major industry group, Human Health and Social Work Activities except Public Health Activities had the highest proportion of hard-to-fill job vacancies at 85.2 percent of the total job vacancies for the industry group. On the other hand, Arts, Entertainment and Recreation had the lowest proportion of hard-to-fill job vacancies at 20.1 percent (Table 2).

c. By major occupational group, job vacancies for skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers had the highest proportion of positions considered hard-to-fill at 78.4 percent. This was followed by managers (64.8%) and professionals (57.4%). (Figure 3 and Table 3)

d. The top three reasons why job vacancies were considered to be hard-to-fill were few or no applicants applying for the job vacancy (43.1%), applicants expecting a high salary (17.2%), and applicants lacking needed competency or skill (17.1%). (Table 5)

4. Applicant-to-Vacancy Ratio Registered at 3.68 Applicants per Vacancy

a. Of the 464,593 vacant positions, there were a total of 1,709,417 applicants vying for the position. This translates to a ratio of 3.68 applicants per vacancy.(Figure 4 and Table 6)

b. Information and Communication was the top industry group in terms of applicant-to-vacancy ratio with 9.84 applicants per vacancy. This was followed by Real Estate Activities (7.56) and Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply (6.09). Meanwhile, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing had the lowest applicant-to-vacancy ratio with 1.38 applicants per vacancy. (Figure 4 and Table 6)

c. By major occupational group, managers had the highest applicant-to-vacancy ratio with 8.05 applicants per vacancy. This was followed by professionals (5.05) and technicians and associate professionals (4.46). On the other hand, plant and machine operators and assemblers had the least number of applicants per vacancy at 1.08. (Table 7)

5. Top Ways of Recruiting Applicants was through Walk-In Applicants

a. Walk-in applications was the most common way for an establishment to acquire applicants with 71.1 percent of the establishments. This was followed by recruitment through employee referrals (63.6%) and online advertisements in social networking sites (42.8%). (Figure 5 and Table 8)

b. Job portal is a modern name for an online job board that helps applicants in finding jobs and aids employers in locating ideal candidates. Among job portals used, JobStreet recorded the highest number of establishments that posted job vacancies in job portals at 9,228 establishments or 73.9 percent share. This was followed by ph.indeed.com (38.0%) and LinkedIn (33.1%). (Table 9)

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, PhD
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

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