Over 60 percent of the population aged 15 years and over were part of the labor force 
Of the estimated 3.77 million population 15 years old and over of Davao Region in 2023, 2.43 million were in the labor force. This translates to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.3 percent. This is 3.4 and 1.7 percentage points higher compared to the LFPR of years 2021 and 2022, respectively. (Table 1a)
 

In year 2023, among the provinces and Highly Urbanized City in Davao Region, Davao Occidental reported the highest LFPR at 71.9 percent, followed by Davao Oriental at 67.0 percent. On the other hand, Davao del Norte has the lowest rate at 61.3 percent. Davao del Sur, Davao City and Davao de Oro recorded 66.1 percent, 63.6 percent and 63.1 percent, respectively. (Figure 1)

Davao del Sur registers the highest employment rate in 2023
Almost 97 percent of the working-age population who were economically active or those who belong to the labor force in Davao Region are employed in 2023. This is 1.7 percentage points lower than in 2021 and 0.9 percentage points higher than in 2022. Davao Region’s employment rate for 2023 is 1.2 percentage points higher than the national estimate with 95.7 percent. (Table 1a)
 

Davao del Sur with 98.0 percent and Davao Occidental with 97.98 percent recorded the highest employment rate in Davao Region for year 2023. On the contrary, Davao City recorded the lowest employment rate with 95.9 percent in 2023.

Unemployment rate of Davao Region stands at 3.1 percent
Davao Region posted an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in year 2023, which is equivalent to 75 thousand 15 years old and over Davaoeños. This is significantly lower compared to 4.8 percent in 2021 and 4.0 percent in 2022. (Table 1a)
 

Davao City has the highest unemployment rate in year 2023 at 4.1 percent, accounting 35 thousand individuals. This was followed by Davao Oriental at 3.8 percent. The provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental and Davao del Sur recorded unemployment rate less than 3 percent in the same year. (Figure 3)

Davao Region’s Underemployment rate hits 6.6 percent 
Underemployed persons are employed persons who: expressed their desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work. In year 2023, 6.6 percent of total employed Davaoeños reported to be underemployed. The underemployment rate for 2023 is lower by 3.1 percentage points than the underemployment rate posted in 2021 with 9.7 percent. In 2022, underemployment rate was 9.1 percent. (Table 1a)
 

Davao Oriental recorded the highest underemployment rate in year 2023 at 10.8 percent, followed by Davao del Norte (8.8%), Davao del Sur (6.2%), Davao City (5.7%) and Davao Occidental (5.6%). On the other hand, Davao de Oro has the lowest underemployment rate at 3.4 percent. (Figure 4)
 

STATISTICAL TABLES

Technical Notes

•    The Annual Labor Force Survey (LFS) refers to the average of data collected across all survey rounds throughout the year. It produces labor and employment statistics for the full year, providing a more comprehensive analysis of the Philippine labor market, including the regional, provincial, and highly urbanized city levels.
•    The LFS was being conducted on a quarterly basis, specifically in January, April, July and October. Starting 2021, special rounds of LFS, known as monthly LFS were conducted in response to the need for high-frequency data to monitor the impacts of the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 pandemic on the Philippine labor market.  
•    The reference period for this survey is the “past week” referring to the past seven (7) days preceding the date of visit of the enumerator or the interviewer.
•    The 2012 Philippine Standard Occupational Classification (PSOC) was adopted starting April 2016. The 1992 PSOC had been used prior to this round. In January 2019, the 2017 Philippine Standard Classification of Education (PSCED) was adopted. The categories for highest grade completed were also revised considering the K to 12 programs in the education system.
•    The population projections based on the 2015 Population Census (POPCEN 2015) has been adopted to generate the labor force statistics. For comparability, population projections based on the POPCEN 2015 were likewise used in the October 2019 labor force statistics.
•    In the January 2017 round of the LFS, Computer Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) system using a tablet was utilized in the enumeration. Starting April 2020, a hybrid approach was used in data collection, a mixed mode of CAPI face-to-face interview, whenever possible, or a telephone interview.
•    Overseas Filipino Workers are not considered part of the labor force in the Philippines. Hence, in the LFS, data on economic characteristics of household members who are overseas workers are not collected. In the LFS report, they are excluded in the estimation of the size of working population, and in the estimation of the labor force.
 

APPROVED FOR RELEASE    :                            

RANDOLPH ANTHONY B. GALES
(Chief Statistical Specialist) 
Officer-In-Charge
Regional Statistical Services Office XI