CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 can absorb skilled female and male labor, or have a thriving informal economy where enterprising women can open small stalls, or accept laundry jobs or production subcontracts. This is most evident in the National Capital Region, where female employment rate has been much higher than male employment rate (NSO 2002). In Southern Tagalog, with its economic zones and the supplementary activities they promote, as well as in more industrial parts of the Visayas, women’s employment rate approaches that of men. In contrast, in regions with large rural sections and where agriculture is the dominant sector, female employment lags behind male employment. In these areas, women are mainly viewed as secondary workers (unpaid family labor). 332. The impact of cultural norms on women’s economic involvement is apparent in the employment rates for two regions. In the Cordilleras, various cultures (including the Kalinga, Kankanaey and Ifugao) allow women great mobility and involvement in mining, agriculture and trading, in addition to a variety of micro-enterprises. A number of women have moved with their families to Baguio City and other places, there to ply their trade, beg, or embark on new livelihood (Josef 2002). All this active economic participation is reflected in an employment rate as high as the men’s. In the Muslim regions, in contrast, reported female unemployment rate is much higher than that of the men’s. 333. As in many economies, unemployment is highest among young workers. In urban areas, the least employable workers are male teenagers, while in rural areas, female teenagers (NSO 2003c). Women workers in the 15-24 years age bracket have the highest unemployment rate, 22.2 percent in 2000 and 23.8 percent in 2003. Teen-aged jobseekers are likely to be school leavers, choosing to work rather than finish high school or college. The search seems to be harder on young women who have been in school longer but have not stayed long enough to complete college. To help young people in their search for a job, the government has installed a Public Employment Services Office (PESO) in many towns and cities. Out-of-school youth could also pick up industrial and livelihood skills in government-run or affiliated non-formal education or technical training centers; or they could join any of the apprenticeship programs offered in cooperation with the private sector. Neither the training centers nor the apprenticeship programs, however, are easily accessible. 334. The government has also initiated direct job creation for out-of-school youth. It reportedly provided “emergency employment” to 78,563 out of school youth from July 2001 to April 2004 under the Kalingan sa Kabataan Program (SONA as of April 30, 2004). Moreover, from July 2002 to January 2003, its Project OYSTER (Out-of-School Youth Serving towards Economic Recovery) trained 62,162 out-of-school young women and men nationwide in various livelihood and skills areas. While these efforts do generate employment and livelihood for young people, the jobs are very short-term or of questionable sustainability. 335. Unlike middle-educated male workers who could work in a wider array of jobs or occupations in construction, transportation and industry, women have more limited choices. Thus, not surprisingly, male unemployment is consistently lower at each education level than female unemployment. Moreover, women’s higher education does not serve them well in rural areas, where jobs (such as farming) demand skills that are education-neutral. But where jobs require a college degree, female employment rate exceeds that of the men. It explains the wider ruralurban differences in male employment rates, implying that males with low education may find 93