Over two million Filipinos found themselves unemployed in March, a significant increase from the 1.8 million jobless Filipinos in February 2024, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In view of this, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) vowed to step up efforts in terms of creating jobs and other employment opportunities for Filipinos under the Marcos administration.
“We will continue to prioritize creating high-quality and well-paying jobs to address the rising issues of vulnerable employment,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Baliscan said.
“We will focus on attracting job-generating investments from the private sector and scaling up social and physical infrastructure to improve our people’s employment prospects to achieve this goal. These will be accompanied by reskilling and upskilling programs to increase employability,” he added.
In collaboration with the private sector, Balisacan added that the government plans to enrich the content of training programs for workers and employers by integrating courses on advanced productivity tools such as data science, analytics, and artificial intelligence.
“For the government to sustain a robust labor market and reap the benefits of the demographic dividend, it must ensure that people are healthy, educated, and skilled,” Balisacan said.
“To facilitate the development of soft and hard skills among workers and create a more agile and adaptive workforce, we at NEDA continue to advocate for the passage of the Apprenticeship Bill, Lifelong Learning Bill, and the Enterprise Productivity Act,” he added.
Balisacan also calls for the passage of the Konektadong Pinoy Bill, which NEDA expects to reduce costs and expand access. “Digital connectivity can provide the workforce with more opportunities, particularly for individuals engaged in care work and other household responsibilities,” he said.
DOF is optimistic
The Department of Finance (DOF) is optimistic about providing more high-quality jobs to Filipinos in the near term as Secretary Ralph Recto expedites the implementation of its Growth-Enhancing Actions and Resolutions (GEARs).
In a statement, Recto said the GEARs program will help the country with its fiscal consolidation while growing the economy through employment-generating investments.
At the core of this plan is aggressively attracting investors to enter the country and generate more quality employment for the people.
This includes accelerating the implementation of investment-enhancing economic liberalization laws and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code, including pushing for the immediate passage of the amendments to the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law dubbed as CREATE MORE.
The CREATE MORE bill will enhance the country’s tax incentives policy and administration, and tailor-fit the interests of investors in strategic investments.
This is expected to sustain the Philippines’ attractiveness to investments and bring in more employment opportunities for qualified workers through the influx of international companies and the expansion of export-oriented industries, according to DOF.
Apart from this, the government is ramping up the roll-out of the Build Better More program, which will not only offer more employment opportunities for construction workers, but will also open the doors for more highly technical jobs such as engineering, architecture, and consultancy that will nurture Filipino expertise and talent.
Wage review can help
In addition, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards and National Wages and Productivity Commission’s adherence to President Marcos’ order to conduct a timely review of the minimum wage rate and to study the improvement of the wage adjustment process, will help in sustaining employment gains while safeguarding worker’s purchasing power amid elevated prices.
PSA reported that the country’s unemployment rate in March rose to 3.9 percent, lower than the recorded unemployment rate in March 2023 at 4.7 percent, but was higher than the 3.5 percent estimate in February 2024.
The employment rate in March 2024, on the other hand, recorded at 96.1 percent, higher than the 95.3 percent estimate in March of the previous year but lower than the estimate in February 2024 at 96.5 percent.
In terms of levels, the number of employed persons was estimated at 49.15 million, higher than the number of employed persons in March 2023 at 48.58 million and February 2024 at 48.95 million.
The country’s labor force participation rate (LFPR) in March stood at 65.3 percent, lower than the estimated LFPR in March 2023 at 66 percent. In February 2024, the LFPR was estimated at 64.8 percent.
Additionally, the country’s underemployment rate has declined to 11 percent in March 2024, compared to 11.2 percent in March 2023.