Duterte administration expects to create 2.8M jobs this year

The Duterte administration aims to create 2.4 to 2.8 million jobs this year as part of an employment recovery strategy from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s labor market.

On Friday, the departments of Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry, Transportation, Tourism, Budget and Management, Education, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development, Science and Technology as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority signed a joint memorandum circular (JMC) creating the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) Task Force.

NERS is a medium-term plan geared towards creating employment opportunities and improving employability of Filipinos while taking into consideration the changes in the labor market brought by the pandemic and the fast adoption of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, a signatory in the JMC, said that while gradual recovery is expected this year, “we are also cognizant that there will be a substantial increase in labor force in 2022 as the first batch of the K-12 program will be graduating from college and are expected to join the labor force.”

“So there will be additional workers next year that will make our unemployment rate challenging so  about 2.4 to 2.8 million jobs must be created this year,” Nograles said during the virtual signing event of the JMC.

Results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s October 2020 Labor Force Survey showed the unemployment rate stood at 8.7% or 3.8 million individuals without jobs or livelihoods. 

This is an improvement from the record-high 17.7% unemployment rate or 7.2 million jobless adults in April 2020 —the height of strict lockdowns to contain COVID-19’s spread.

Last October's unemployment rate brought the 2020 average at 10.4%, which is equivalent to about 4.5 million jobless adults for the whole year, the highest since 2005.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, for his part, underscored the importance of coordinated efforts to recover the losses in the labor market and preserve existing jobs, businesses, and livelihoods.

“We are drafting the National Employment Recovery Strategy... the objective of this strategy is to enhance the effectiveness of policies and programs and to more efficiently achieve the national objective, makabangon ang eknomiya,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

“This strategy brings together various measures, programs that influence the demand and supply of labor as well as the functioning of labor markets. This in turn will restart economic activities, restore business confidence, upgrade and retool the workforce and facilitate access to the labor market,” Lopez said.

On the other hand, Nograles said one way the government can meaningfully help in the recovery of the labor market is to provide avenues for their training, education, and opportunities for the workforce. —LBG, GMA News