Employers upbeat with Xmas outlook

Employers upbeat with Xmas outlook | Daily Tribune

The head of the Philippines’ umbrella organization of employers shared his optimism that the Christmas season will be a good one for employers and employees alike, even as he underscored the need to attract more foreign investments and further improve ease of doing business to create more job opportunities for Filipinos.

Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr., president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines in a recent interview with Radyo Pilipino, said ECOP was happy to hear that despite the many challenges the country faces, jobs continue to be created and fewer Filipinos reportedly remain unemployed.

Government data shows that the number of unemployed Filipinos as of August 2024 was estimated at 2.07 million, lower than the 2.22 million recorded in August 2023 and 2.38 million in July this year.

Ortiz-Luis expressed satisfaction that jobs continue to be generated but lamented that job creation is slower than that in neighboring ASEAN countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Greater collaboration

He underscored the need for greater collaboration between the government and the private sector to attract more investments and further improve ease of doing business to create more opportunities for Filipino workers.

Meanwhile, Ortiz-Luis said that with the approaching holiday season, the group expects the job market to become even livelier as the Philippine economy continues to look up.

“Marami sa mga kababayan natin ay makaka-extra na naman ng trabaho kagaya sa mga malls na magdadagdag ng mga empleyado (Many of our people will be able to find extra work like for example the malls which will be needing more workers during the holiday season),” he said.

Security of tenure

But at the same time, he said recruitment could be tempered by the issue of security of tenure, which might deter mass hiring by some companies.

Nonetheless, he said the outlook for the coming holidays is looking good, except for micro-enterprises that make up 90 percent of businesses and the informal sector such as the farmers and fisherfolk that continue to rely on government support for survival.

“In general I think overall okay naman ang Christmas natin,” he said.

Ortiz-Luis also shared that trade and industry organizations continue to work with the big malls to hold job fairs to hire more workers as part of their commitment to help ease unemployment in the Philippines.

Beyond this, however, he added that these groups have also signed memoranda of understanding to go ahead and put up an online platform as another option to face-to-face job interviews.