Malacañang on Thursday said at least 30,000 local jobs may be created from the P804 billion worth of investment pledges that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. secured from Indonesia and Singapore.

"These investments, if we put it all together, value $14.36 billion or P804.78 billion. This will support our country's economic recovery efforts and create more jobs for Filipinos here in our country," Marcos said.

The President issued the statement upon his arrival from a four-day state visit to the two nations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 late Wednesday.

Of the total, $8.48 billion or (P466.6 billion) would come from Indonesia while $5.88 billion (P335.8 billion) had been pledged by Singapore-based investors.

Marcos said the government signed and sealed a total of 10 letters of intent and 12 memorandums of agreement, and "witnessed" the signing of several other LoIs and MOUs involving Indonesian and Singaporean investors.

30K jobs

The MoUs and LoIs mostly covered renewable energy, data centers, e-commerce, broadband technology, start-ups, government housing and agriculture, he explained.

The President said he and Indonesian President Joko Widodo agreed to discuss improving bilateral ties on defense and maritime cooperation, trade and investment, and people-to-people ties.

However, the 30,000 prospective jobs may prove to be a drop in the bucket compared to the 2.6 million unemployed Filipinos based on July 2022 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

PSA's year-on-year figures, however, showed that the number of unemployed Filipinos dropped by 5.2 percent for July this year compared to the 3.23 million who were unemployed in the same month in 2021.

It was the lowest reported unemployment rate from January to July 2022 and the lowest of all July figures since 2005. In June 2022, the number of unemployed people was estimated at 2.99 million.

"The labor force participation rate in July 2022 was placed at 65.2 percent, translating to 49.99 million Filipinos 15 years and older who were either employed or unemployed," PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa said.

94.8% employment rate

"Since the start of 2022, the LFPR in July 2022 of 65.2 percent was the second highest rate reported, while the highest was recorded in March 2022 at 65.4 percent. LFPR in July 2021 was posted at 59.4 percent," he added.

Meanwhile, the employment rate continued to pick-up to 94.8 percent in July 2022, from 94.0 percent in the previous month.

"In terms of level, the number of employed persons in July 2022 was estimated at 47.39 million, from 41.67 million in the same period of 2021," the PSA added.

In June 2022, the number of employed persons was recorded at 46.59 million.

Michael Ricafort of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. said that "the latest improvement in the local unemployment data defied the effects of higher inflation and interest rates and financing costs."

"Global crude oil and other commodity prices already started to ease recently, with Nymex crude oil among eight-month lows and already erased all the increase since the Russia-Ukraine war," the economist added.

Thus, inflationary pressures could start to ease in the coming months, Ricafort said.

@tribunephl_mish