More than a million women were dropped from the labor force last year. This is equivalent to almost double of the total number of men (600,000) dropped from the said statistics during the same period.

In sum, 19.7 million women or almost half of the total 37 million women aged 15 and above were not counted in the labor force. Only 17.4 million were counted in the said statistics. Among those dropped are women who are in school, housewives, those who could not work because of the lockdown, sick, and those are still waiting for the result of their work applications. The participation rate of women has long been lower compared that of men. The latest statistics indicate that only 46.9% of women are working, compared to 73.9% of men.

Data from Ibon Foundation indicate that more than 10 million Filipinos, and not just 4 million Filipinos as reported by the reactionary state, are actually unemployed. The unemployment rate is also higher among women (8.8%) compared to men (8.7%). On top of this, a large number of women (13.4%) were also underemployed during the said period.