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Thursday, March 28, 2024

DOF: Managing health risks key to lower unemployment

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The Department of Finance said over the weekend the unemployment and underemployment rates in the country could go down further if the health risks of the COVID-19 pandemic are managed effectively.

It issued the statement following the latest Philippine Statistics Authority data showing that the jobless rate in the country dropped to 7.1 percent in March from 8.8 percent in February. It was also the lowest rate since the enhanced community quarantine was enforced in April last year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Month-on-month, the number of employed increased by more than 5 percent while there was significant decline in both underemployed (6.56 percent) and unemployed (17.84 percent). As a result, employment rate rose to nearly 93 percent while underemployment and unemployment eased to 16.18 percent and 7.05 percent, respectively.

New employment generation in March was largely driven by the agriculture and industry sectors. The number of employed persons in the agriculture sector increased by 8.02 percent while in the industry sector, it rose 15.10 percent.

“The employment numbers are encouraging, and we still have to do more to bring down both the unemployment and underemployment rates,” the department said.

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“It is imperative, therefore that the health risks posed by the epidemic be managed effectively and efficiently and its transmission arrested,” it said.

It said if this would not be managed effectively, the government would be forced to transition from risk-management stance to risk-avoidance posture and make the difficult and painful decision of imposing much stricter quarantines measures.

“In this instance, in the process of attempting to stem the spread of the disease the risk of inadvertently killing the proverbial patient increases. Such potential unpleasant double-effect situation should be avoided,” the DOF said.

Economic managers composed of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua and Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado earlier said in a joint statement that the labor market continued to see gains in March following the further reopening of the economy, while adhering to the minimum health standards.

“Rising labor force participation and falling unemployment have enabled millions of Filipinos to regain their jobs and incomes in March 2021,” they said.

They said following the second spike in COVID-19 infections in the latter half of March, the government once again prioritized saving lives using the ECQ and modified ECQperiod to further improve the health system capacity.

“Given the imposition of ECQ and MECQ in the NCR-plus bubble from March 29 to May 15, 2021, we expect to see a temporary reversal of these employment gains in the next LFS round. However, the impact is expected to be less severe compared to April 2020 given our more risk-managed approach to the present quarantines,” they said.

They said unlike last year’s ECQ and MECQ where around three-fourths of the economy was shut down, most sectors of the economy, including public transport, this time around were allowed to operate subject to guidelines from the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

To help low-income families cope with the ECQ, the government swiftly implemented a supplemental social amelioration program amounting to P22.9 billion for 22.9 million individuals in the NCR-Plus bubble, which includes the adjacent provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna.

The government also lowered the tariff rates and increased the minimum access volume for pork to address the supply shortage through importation and help bring down rising food inflation.

“This decisive measure will benefit some 100 million Filipino consumers of pork, especially those who have lost their jobs or income due to the quarantine restrictions,” they said.

They also said the government continued to intensify the implementation of Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat and Recover strategy to reduce COVID-19 cases and allow the lifting of the MECQ status by mid-May.

Among the key initiatives are the provision of more isolation and quarantine beds and the move towards automatic contact tracing.

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