President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told the private sector on Thursday to collaborate closely with the government in creating quality and green jobs for Filipino workers for his administration to make at least three-million new jobs by 2028.

In his speech at the 2024 National Employment Summit, Marcos said the government intends to expand operations and generate employment opportunities by creating the “Trabaho Para sa Bayan” (TPB) Plan.

Marcos outlined several strategic frameworks that will drive the initiative, including the Philippine Development Plan, the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan, the Strategic Investment Priority Plan and the Workforce Development Plan.

The Chief Executive also said the government is implementing significant reforms to address persistent issues such as job-skills mismatch, underemployment and unemployment.

These include updates to the basic education curriculum, integration of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) into the Senior High School curriculum, and the implementation of employment facilitation initiatives.

The aim of Senior High School Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is to equip young Filipino leaders with job-ready skills and connect them with employment opportunities.

Data spanning July 2022 to May 2024 indicated that 2.746 million students completed various TVET programs.

“My dear colleagues, this is the perfect time for our key players to come together — from workers to employers, government, other partners, and private sector partners — to harness the spirit of Bayanihan as we meet the emerging needs in the local, national, regional, and international labor markets,” Marcos said.

“Beyond generating employment, what we want to achieve is creating quality jobs, with special emphasis on ensuring workers’ welfare, empowerment, competitiveness, and security in all sectors of our labor sector,” Marcos added.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the number of jobless Pinoys increased to 2.04 million as of April 2024, slightly higher than the 2.0 million reported in March 2024.

PSA also noted that there were 48.36 million employed Filipinos in April 2024 — a marginal gain from 48.06 million in April 2023 but a decrease from 49.15 million employed people in March 2024.

In April 2024, the underemployment rate was 14.6 percent, up from 11 percent in March 2024 and 12.9 percent in April 2023.

Around 7.04 million of the 48.36 million employed Filipinos during the month said they would want more work or longer hours.

Hence, Marcos assured the public that the administration is putting in extra effort to combat unemployment and underemployment in the country.

“Beyond generating employment, what we want to achieve is creating quality jobs, with special emphasis on ensuring workers’ welfare, empowerment, competitiveness, and security in all sectors of our labor sector,” he said.

“This is why the government is working doubly hard to address the proverbial problems that we have always faced — job-skills mismatch, underemployment, (and) unemployment through the reforms in our basic education curriculum, the embedding of TVET in the Senior High School curriculum, and the implementation of employment facilitation initiatives,” he added.