Arroyo trumpets creating a million jobs in ‘06

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Friday her administration did not fail in its promise to create jobs so that Filipinos could provide for their families. Mrs Arroyo, during the 25th anniversary of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), was elated over the National Statistics Office’s report that the January jobless rate improved to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent last year. The President said she is happy that more than a million jobs were created in the past 12 months. She said the number is three times more than what was created under the entire Estrada administration. She said every tough decision and economic policy that she implemented is geared toward job creation. “This administration has been attacked on various fronts and issues, but let it not be said that we failed to give Juan de la Cruz a chance to land a good job and bring home the bacon to a healthy and adequately schooled family," she said. She said she will be “unswerving in the task of jobs creation," and will top the more than five million jobs generated in the past six years as government pushes economic growth and social justice to the limit. “This is good governance at work. We affirm it as strongly as we vow to enforce criminal justice and human rights for the freedom and prosperity of the people," she said. The NSO said, however, that the number of jobless people reached 2.9 million as of January, higher than the October tally of 2.6 million. Underemployment also rose to 21.5 percent of the labor force from 21.1 percent last year. As of January, the number of workers rose to 33.5 million, 4.7 percent higher than the previous year. Employment generation was at 1.52 million for the period, higher than the 754,000 net job creation in 2006. The Philippines has a total of 36.4 million labor force, out of the 56.145 million individuals aged 15 and above. In January, the services sector continued as the top contributor to the employment, with a net employment contribution of 1.45 million, a 9.4 percent increase. The industrial sector generated 103,000 jobs, compared to 87,000 employment losses last year. But the agriculture sector lost 38,000 net employment due to typhoon damage, the heavy rains in Mindanao and drier-than-usual weather in Central Luzon. The NSO survey showed that of the 6.8 million underemployed, 4.2 million were working less than 40 hours a week and wanted more work, mainly from manufacturing; public administration and defense, compulsory social security; and, private households with employed persons. - GMANews.TV