Decent jobs
Unless the labor sector recovers soon, offers more job vacancies, and increases its income output, many households will continue to risk their livelihoods.
December brings out the most exciting feelings in Filipinos, not just because it is Christmas time but because it gives us a chance to earn, share, and receive more.
Crates of fruits for sale, such as oranges, apples, grapes, pineapples, watermelons, grapes, longans, pears, and pomelos, all believed to bring happiness and prosperity, flood the dry markets, the street corners, the front of neighbor's houses and officemates' online stores.
Indeed, the season to be jolly is here, as the month offers temporary employment and business opportunities for people without jobs or the underemployed wanting to earn extra money.
For long-term jobs, the government, through the Department of Labor and Employment, is expected to complement the festive mood this month by conducting a job fair, initially offering more than 28,136 jobs in 21 sites across 15 regions nationwide.
The top vacancies included customer service representatives, production workers/operators, cashiers, baggers, laborers, carpenters, painters, casino dealers, and service crew.
The Philippine economy has rebounded from the pandemic, claimed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his State-of-the-Nation Address last July, citing the country's 95.7 percent employment rate this year based on the Labor Force survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Accordingly, the employment rate was 95.8 percent in October 2023, the highest recorded since April 2005, and the same estimated rate in November 2022. The number of employed individuals 15 years old and over was 47.80 million in October 2023, higher than 47.06 million in October 2022 and 44.63 million in July 2023.
Unfortunately, Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel was not impressed. I remember him questioning what he considered "distorted" PSA employment data quoted by the President during the State of the Nation Address last July. The senator pointed out that the data included 10 to 30-day jobs such as those offered by the DoLE under its TUPAD or Tulong Panghanap-buhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers program.