A new batch of job applicants is bound to graduate this June under a new leadership. As we welcome a government under the Marcos-Duterte tandem, we are introduced to a salient issue that needs attention and resolution as soon as they take office.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) expected that a 7-9% influx of unemployment rate in 2022 will take place as the pilot batch of K-12 finishers and other college students graduate and compete for slots in the job market. Three months into 2022 and the employment rate is at 94.2%, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
While this may look good at surface level, chances of getting a job right off the bat without being undercompensated are slim for each fresh graduate. With employers and businesses still adapting to the shift to normalization and recovering from the effects of the pandemic, PSA reported that visible underemployment — a term used to identify a quantity of individuals who work for less than 40 hours per week — became so common that its rate increased from 9.2% to 10.2%.
The problem with employment concerns the graduating college batch as they will be entering the workforce in a few months. The inflation rate is at a high and the economy is only a few wrong moves to rock bottom. Before more families suffer from the difficulty of sustaining their everyday lives, the Marcos-Duterte administration’s first order of business should be job security and proper work compensation.
Unemployed to Underemployed
The PSA reported on May 6 that the number of Filipinos with jobs rose to 46.98 million (94.2%) in March 2022 – 1.50 million more people than what was recorded in the previous month (93.6%). This was a far cry from the employment rate during the pandemic.
COVID-19 restrictions and national lockdowns drove entrepreneurs and employers to cut staff and salaries. Some even had to completely close down their businesses due to bankruptcy. Consequently, the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 9.5% in 2020; steepest decline since World War II. A decrease in GDP, the standard monetary value of goods and services in a country at a certain timeframe, indicates a decline in the economy. In the same year, the highest unemployment rate in the history of the Philippines was recorded in April – the height of the virus outbreak – at a whopping 17.6%.
Two years have gone by and we have finally shifted to Alert Level System with loosened restrictions. The constant downward trend of active COVID-19 cases motivated the relaxed mobilization and Alert Level 1 classification in most parts of the country. This opened and reopened job opportunities for Filipinos.
“The improvement in the employment situation demonstrates the effective recalibration of our strategies with the shift to Alert Level System which allowed more Filipinos to rejoin the labor force,” said acting presidential spokesperson and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar in a press statement released by Philippine News Agency (PNA).
But because of the large volume of employees and job applicants and employers still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, companies had to reduce working hours and operational costs to accommodate more employees and recoup losses in the past few years. The underemployment rate in March 2022 increased to 15.8% from 14% in February 2022. This was the highest in over 4 months since November 2021.
First Hit, Close To Home
The realization of how disadvantageous it is to be underpaid at times like this dawns on us when our own and our family’s needs slowly become a luxury one cannot simply afford. For families who have just enough to get by, they will need multiple sources of income to sustain themselves.
In a monetary report released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on May 19, the inflation rate for 2022 is projected to rise to an average of 4.6% – a noticeable difference from the previously expected rate of 3.7%. Families will need to elevate their budget in order to meet their daily needs and adapt to price hikes of commodities such as food, transportation fares, and oil supply.
The first hit of realization of a financial struggle is indeed close to home.
The Future of Employment in the Philippines
What should we expect from the new administration?
It is important that, as citizens, we become knowledgeable of the succeeding government’s plans to mitigate the effects of inflation, unemployment, and underemployment on Filipino families. A flagship program of the proclaimed president and son of former dictator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for the labor sector, aside from “unity,” is the “Jabs to Jobs.” Its main objective is to create jobs, ensure job security and health safety, and empower the workforce after the pandemic by conducting a vaccine rollout.
However, according to the Department of Health’s (DOH) daily COVID-19 vaccination dashboard as of May 26, approximately 70.8 million of the current population in the Philippines have already received their full doses. The DOH aims to reach the 77 million target before incumbent president Duterte’s term ends. Being this close to hitting the national vaccination goal, what is there left for “Jabs To Jobs” to work on?
Apart from this program, Marcos Jr. proposed efforts of partnering with private enterprises and creating jobs through the “Build, Build, Build” project. While the BBB project is promising in the sense that it has provided livelihood for over 6.5 million Filipinos from 2016 to 2020 as per newly-elected senator and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar, the jobs offered under BBB require a certain skill set that not everyone can meet. They mostly cater to engineers, construction workers, and any careers along those lines.
Marcos Jr.’s plans for the labor sector should be more inclusive. But with little-to-none specific plans of action and vague and hollow promises, it is only right that citizens and taxpayers demand more from him this early in his term.
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