MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday reported a significant increase in the country's employment rate.
"Our employment rate has increased to 95.9%. We also saw a significant increase in high-quality jobs," Marcos said in his third State of the Nation Address on Monday.
"Underemployment too has decreased from 11.7% in May of 2023 to 9.9% today, which is our lowest since 2005," he added.
The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country's employment rate went up 95.9 percent from May 2023's 95.7 percent.
In magnitude, the number of employed Filipinos increased to 48.87 million from 48.26 million in May last year.
"Notably, we also saw an increase in middle-skilled employment, wage and salaried employment, and full-time jobs," Marcos said.
The PSA data showed an increase in middle-skilled employment by 2 million, wage and salaried employment by 1.5 million (including 1.3 million in private establishments), and full-time jobs by 2.8 million.
"Magagandang balita pa rin ang mga ito sa kabila ng nararanasang mataas na presyo ng pagkain (This is good news amid the high prices of food that we are experiencing)," Marcos added.
Citing public employment offices’ role
Marcos also recognized the role of Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) in boosting employment.
“Job placement has also seen significant progress, especially through our Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) nationwide. PESOs have harnessed IT (information technology) capabilities and improved labor-industry coordination. Collectively, they boast a job placement success rate of ninety-eight percent,” the President added.
The PESOs aim to ensure prompt and efficient delivery of employment facilitation services as well as to provide timely information on labor market and programs. (with report from Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
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