Gov’t sees better prospects for job seekers

Growth of the Philippines’ unemployment rate may be greatly reduced this year as the economy’s robust pace of expansion is expected to generate sufficient employment.

Arsenio Balisacan, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said the economy would likely sustain a fast growth rate in 2014 and attract investments substantial enough to reduce the unemployment rate.

“There is a good chance we can do it this year,” Balisacan said, referring to the significant cut in the unemployment rate. “There is growing confidence among investors as they see the potentials of the economy.”

He expressed confidence that the Philippine economy would continue its rater of rise with inflation kept at a manageable level.

This should put the country on the radar screen of more investors, Balisacan told reporters last week.

For two years in a row, the Philippines registered one of the fastest growth rates in Asia. After recording growth of 6.8 percent in 2012, the economy grew by an even faster pace of 7.2 percent last year.

But economists described the Philippines’ economic expansion as “jobless growth” because it failed to reduce the unemployment rate while the poverty incidence remained high.

Latest figures showed that, of the total workforce of 40.96 million Filipinos last year, 2.99 million were unemployed.

This translated to an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent—higher than the 7 percent recorded in 2012.

According to economic officials, just because the economy grew by a robust pace does not mean that the unemployment rate will be greatly reduced.

The economy is still in transition, they said, and it is only now that more people are starting to look for jobs.

As a consequence, the labor force increases, they explained earlier.

Officials said jobs actually were being created last year, but the increase in employment was outpaced by the rise in the labor force.

But Balisacan said that, as the economy attracts even more investments and goes beyond the phase of transition, a substantial drop in the unemployment rate could be seen this year.

Under the updated medium-term Philippine Development Plan (PDP), which is expected to be released this month, the government aims to invest more in initiatives that will help turn the economy from being consumption-driven to one that is investment-led, Balisacan said.

In particular, the government will invest more in projects and programs that will help boost the manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture sectors in order to create more jobs, he explained.

These sectors have acquired priority status because they have the capacity to provide the greatest number of employment opportunities for people from poor households, he said.