The country’s chief economist on Friday urged the private sector to undertake a bigger participation in job creation and infrastructure development to help the economy sustain growth.
“We see the private sector playing a significant role in bringing in the necessary investments that will lead to high-quality job creation, increasing the share of wage and salaried workers from 48 percent in 2021 to a range of 53 to 55 percent by 2028,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told members of Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) during an economic briefing on Friday. The Marcos administration aims to reduce the unemployment rate to 4-5 percent by 2028 through higher-quality jobs, while hitting a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5 to 7.5 percent this year and a more ambitious range of 6.5 to 8 percent yearly from 2023 to 2028.
Skills development
Balisacan, who heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority, highlighted the private sector’s part in equipping the labor force for the jobs of tomorrow. “To ensure that students will be qualified for higher-quality jobs, there must be closer coordination with the private sector with respect to job facilitation and skills development programs,” he said.
Balisacan also reiterated the larger role of private investors and tycoons with deep pockets in the Marcos administration’s infrastructure development program in order to achieve a record-high spending equivalent to 6.3 percent of GDP in 2028.
“Given our current fiscal constraints, we will use PPPs (public-private partnerships) to harness the private sector’s expertise, resources and capacity to substantially upgrade the country’s infrastructure. To ensure that the benefits of economic growth are inclusive, we will prioritize solicited projects that fit into approved master plans and will connect leading and lagging regions,” Balisacan said, adding:
“Plans are underway to review the Amended Build-Operate-Transfer Law’s implementing rules and regulations to address the issues and concerns raised in various fora that the rules are hindering investors from participating in PPPs.”