President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. lauded the rising number of Filipinos employed in the country based on the recent Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Labor Force Survey on Friday.
“Ito yung talagang priority sa atin is trabaho, kaya’t lahat naman ng ating ginagawa sa ekonomiya ay para mabigyan, hindi lang naman iyong underemployed na klase na trabaho kundi ang magandang trabaho na may future, may benefits,” the President told reporters.
PSA reported that the number of unemployed persons ages 15 years old and above decreased to 2.17 million in May 2023 compared to 2.26 million recorded in April 2023.
The number is also way lower than the 2.93 million jobless Filipinos in May last year, with a difference of 760,000 individuals.
Moreover, the employment rate in the country has reached 95.7 percent, or equal to 48.26 million Filipinos employed in May 2023.
Mr. Marcos added that at the start of his administration, the unemployment rate in the country is around 17 percent, in May this year, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%.
“Kaya kailangan magkaroon ng economic activity para magkaroon ng trabaho ang ating mga kababayan, and slowly, slowly, hindi naman basta’t sinabi natin mangyayari, kailangan marami pa tayong kailangan gawin,” said Mr. Marcos.
The Chief Executive also stressed the need to adjust initiatives in terms of digitalization, worker skills, and processes.
He added that he wants to adopt these policies for foreign and local investors to see the Philippines as an “investor-friendly country”.
“Sometimes, kapag sinabi natin investor, lagi nating iniisip foreign investor, hindi lamang foreign investor, yung local, marami namang local ang gusto mag invest, ayusin lang daw natin muna ang patakbo ng mga departamento, yung ease of doing business na lagi nating nababanggit,” the President said.
