THE Philippine Statistics Authority-Davao Region (PSA-Davao) reported that, as of October 2024, about 63.7 percent of the region’s population aged 15 years and above was in the labor force.
Based on the October 2024 Preliminary Employment Situation in the Davao Region, 63.7 percent of the around 3.87 million individuals aged 15 and above are in the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR), a bit lower compared to the same period in 2023, which recorded a 63.9 percent LFPR.
Among the 17 regions in the Philippines, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) has the highest LFPR at 70.1 percent, while the Bicol Region has the lowest at 58.5 percent.
Moreover, the employment rate in the region stood at 97.5 percent as of October 2024. This is higher compared to the employment rate in October 2023, which was 97.1 percent, and July 2024, which was 96.9 percent.
“Davao Region’s employment rate for October 2024 was higher than the national estimate of 96.1 percent,” PSA said.
Ten other regions recorded higher employment rates than the national employment rate, namely the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 97.7 percent, Soccsksargen with 97.6 percent, Zamboanga Peninsula with 97.1 percent, Caraga with 97.2 percent, Central Visayas with 97.1 percent, Central Luzon with 97.1 percent, Cagayan Valley with 97 percent, Eastern Visayas with 96.9 percent, Ilocos Region with 96.7 percent, and Barmm with 96.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Davao Region has decreased from 2.9 percent in October 2023 to 2.5 percent in October 2024. The number of unemployed individuals in October 2024 is estimated at 62,000, which is lower than the 69,000 reported in October 2023.
The underemployment rate has also decreased significantly to 4.3 percent, compared to 7.3 percent in October 2023. About 104,000 of the 2.40 million employed individuals have expressed a desire to have additional work hours in their current job, take on additional work, or even find a new job with longer hours.
PSA-Davao explained that Overseas Filipino Workers are not considered part of the labor force in the country. They noted that data on the economic characteristics of household members abroad are not collected and, therefore, they are excluded from the estimation of the size of the working population. RGP
