Davao Region Records 63.6 Percent Labor Force Participation Rate 
In April 2025, Davao Region's total population 15 years old and over was estimated at 3.88 million. The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in April 2025 was posted at 63.6 percent, higher than the reported LFPR in April 2024 at 61.9 percent but lower than January 2025 at 64.2 percent (see Table 1). The reported LFPR in April 2025 translates to a total of 2.47 million Davaoeños aged 15 years old and over who were in the labor force, or those who were either employed or unemployed. The number of individuals aged 15 years old and over who were in the labor force was 2.37 million    in April 2024 and 2.48 million in January 2025.

Among the 18 Regions, BARMM reported the highest LFPR at 74.2 percent, while Eastern Visayas has the lowest rate at 59.5 percent. Ten regions have lower LFPR than the national estimate of 63.7 percent: Davao Region (63.6%), CALABARZON (63.4%), Cagayan Valley (63.1%), CAR (62.9%), Negros Island Region (NIR) (62.6%), Zamboanga Peninsula (62.3%), Central Luzon (61.9%), NCR (61.8%), Bicol Region (61.1%), and Eastern Visayas (59.5%).

Almost Ninety-Eight Percent of Labor Force in Davao Region Employed
Employment rate or the proportion of employed persons of the total labor force in Davao Region was at 97.6 percent in April 2025. This was higher than the employment rate in April 2024 at 96.4 percent. In January 2025, the employment rate was estimated at 97.1 percent. In terms of levels, the number of employed persons in April 2025 was recorded at 2.41 million. This was higher than the number of employed persons in the same month last year at 2.28 million. In January 2025, the number of employed persons was estimated at 2.41 million.
 

Davao Region's employment rate for April 2025 was higher than the national estimate of 95.9 percent. Eleven other regions recorded higher employment rate compared to the national employment rate: CAR (97.8%), Zamboanga Peninsula (97.5%), Cagayan Valley (97.3%), Eastern Visayas (97.0%), Central Luzon (96.9%), Caraga (96.9%), BARMM (96.8%), MIMAROPA (96.7%), Northern Mindanao (96.3%), SOCCSKSARGEN (96.1%) and Western Visayas (96.0%). CAR showed the highest increase of 1.6 percentage points from April 2024 at 96.2 percent to April 2025 at 97.8 percent.

Unemployment rate was recorded at 2.4 percent 
Davao Region’s unemployment rate in April 2025 decreased to 2.4 percent, from 3.6 percent in April 2024. The unemployment rate in January 2025 was estimated at 2.9 percent. In terms of magnitude, the number of unemployed individuals in April 2025 was posted at 59 thousand. This was lower than the reported number of unemployed persons in April 2024 at 85 thousand. The number of unemployed individuals in January 2025 was posted at 71 thousand.

Six regions of the country reporting higher unemployment rate than the national estimate of 4.1 percent in April 2025 were Central Visayas (5.5%), CALABARZON (5.3%), NCR (5.1%), Ilocos Region (4.8%), Bicol Region (4.8%), and Negros Island Region (4.4%).

Davao Region’s Underemployment rate is at 3.9 percent 
Underemployment rate of Davao Region in April 2025 decreased to 3.9 percent, from 7.1 percent in April 2024. In January 2025, the underemployment rate was estimated at 3.3 percent. In terms of magnitude, about 94 thousand of the 2.41 million employed individuals expressed the 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 April 2025.

SOCCSKSARGEN has the highest underemployment rate with 36.0 percent,21.4 percentage points higher than the national estimate of 14.6 percent. Nine other regions with underemployment rate higher than the national estimate were: MIMAROPA (25.9%), Western Visayas (24.3%), Bicol Region (21.2%), Cagayan Valley (19.8%), CALABARZON (18.8%), Northern Mindanao (17.8%), Caraga(16.8%), Eastern Visayas (15.8%), and CAR (14.9%).

Technical Notes 
•    The Labor Force Survey (LFS) is a nationwide quarterly survey of households conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population until 2020. Starting February 2021, the LFS was conducted monthly in response to the need for high-frequency data to monitor the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
•    The survey is designed to provide statistics on levels and trends of employment, unemployment, and underemployment for the country, as a whole, and for each of the administrative regions.
•    The reference period for this survey is the “past week” referring to the past seven days preceding the date of visit of the enumerator or the field interviewer. 
•    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 was likewise used in the October 2019 labor force statistics.
•    Starting April 2012 LFS, the codes for industry adopted the 2009 Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC). Prior to this, codes for industry used the 1994 PSIC. The 2012 Philippine Standard Occupational Classification (PSOC) was adopted starting April 2016. The 1992 PSOC had been used prior to these rounds.
•    In the April 2017 round of the LFS, Computer Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) using Tablet was utilized in the enumeration. 
•    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 reports, they are excluded in the estimation of the size of working population, that is, population aged 15 years and older, 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