The Department of Finance said Wednesday it sees a bright employment outlook amid the government’s efforts to put in place vital economic reforms in tandem with the ramping up of COVID-19 vaccination program that will boost business confidence.
It said in an economic bulletin the amendments to the Foreign Investments Act, Public Service Act and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act would support job generation in the coming years.
“Medium to long term, the passage of CREATE [Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act] and the amendments to the Foreign Investments Act, Public Service Act and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act will help bring in more employers and generate more employment,” it said.
“The recent signing into law the amendments to the RTLA is a welcome development towards faster economic recovery and, ultimately, better employment opportunities,” it said.
CREATE or Republic Act 11534 was enacted by the Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a fiscal relief to domestic and foreign corporations doing business in the Philippines.
The DOF said the administration of vaccines “will help the country live with the virus”, but warned that “the country needs to stay alert and not let its guard down as the virus continues to mutate.”
Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said in a briefing that 63,219,221 people already completed their primary vaccine series as of Feb. 28. Of the total of 135,747,294 vaccine doses administered nationwide, 68,808,944 individuals received their first dose, while 10,214,164 got their booster shots.
The government aims to fully vaccinate 77 million Filipinos by the end of March, and 90 million by June 2022.
The economy created 797,000 more jobs in December as it loosened lockdowns due to lower COVID infection rate. The increase in employment was accounted for by the agriculture and industry sectors.
Agriculture added 673,000 more jobs and industry, 326,000, which more than compensated for the 202,000 decline in the services sector.
The manufacturing sub-sector contributed 325,000 more jobs. Noteworthy was the continued recovery of tourism-related activities.