"Growth and job creation could be done despite the pandemic and pending the establishment of herd immunity."
The latest unemployment data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority this week is hardly encouraging. Some 1.4 million jobs were restored between October last year and January 2021, but more were actually unemployed compared to January last year.
The pandemic has shut down thousands of business establishments and rendered millions of Filipinos jobless since mid-March last year. Many malls are operating at less than half their capacity, while several hotels, fast-food restaurants and other retail outlets had to shut down because of low demand. Millions of students were forced to learn their lessons at home and online, resulting in much-reduced consumption in the economy.
Around 4 million Filipinos aged 15 years and above were unemployed in January 2021 compared to 2.4 million in January 2020. This means the unemployment rate climbed to 8.7 percent in January this year from just 5.3 percent a year ago.
If it’s any consolation, the ranks of the unemployed have significantly decreased from 17.6 percent in April 2020, or at the height of the strict community quarantines imposed by the government to contain the virus spread.
The employment data, however, suggest that the economic reopening is creating or restoring jobs lost in the early stage of the pandemic. The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of the working age population that is either working or actively looking for work, increased from 58.7 percent to 60.5 percent.
The country’s economic managers agree that growth and job creation could be done despite the pandemic and pending the establishment of herd immunity in the country. The safe reopening of the economy, according to them, requires a calibrated and more targeted approach—meaning strictly enforcing the minimum health protocols and resorting to localized quarantines.
The strategy aims to reduce the virus spread without affecting the healthy majority “who are in need of jobs to address their hunger and other health concerns.”
Local government units, again, must do their job, especially in localized quarantines. LGU executives should be forward-looking in their management of the COVID-19 infection. They can directly help in creating or restoring jobs and reviving the economy.