Are the efforts of the government to decrease the unemployment rate working well?
The report that the unemployment rate in the Philippines decreased is worth to be noted but the government’s efforts should continue to stop this from increasing.
Unemployment is one of the major problems that the Philippine government is facing. This goes to show that the economy of the country is also suffering. It is a known fact that many Filipinos are jobless. The rate of unemployment significantly increased during the lockdowns.
For many years, many Filipinos have been relying on job fairs to find a secure or stable job. At some point, some opted to go abroad for a greener pasture but not all the time, this option has a positive outcome.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, based on the report from Inquirer, said that the decrease in the unemployment rate goes to show that the economy of the Philippines is healing.
“We laud the decline of our unemployment rate to 3.6 percent last November 2023 from 4.2 percent in October, the lowest unemployment rate since 2005,” Villanueva said.
However, he stressed that the government’s effort should not stop there. “As our labor market continues to improve and with more job opportunities from foreign investors expected to materialize this year, we need to see a sustained effort to keep our unemployment numbers low and not only during the holiday season,” he said.
The Senator is right. There is no reason to sit back and relax already. If some efforts or measures can still be done to lower the rate even more, then, these should be done.
Sen. Villanueva pointed out that the decrease in the unemployment rate was partly because of the completion of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan Act.
Under this law, which the lawmaker principally authored and sponsored, the government is mandated to establish a national employment generation and recovery master plan with a three, six and 10-year development timeline.
The master plan will also have programs to support micro, small, and medium enterprises, as well as, efforts to help in worker upskilling, employer incentives, youth employment, and the reintegration of overseas Filipino workers.
This master plan sounds promising but this should be implemented properly by government offices. Just like any other endeavor, to ensure a low unemployment rate, every agency involved in this should work hand in hand and work hard.
Let us stop the ningas cogon attitude and this program should continue to be done with the same intensity.