Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisan said the government will focus on creating higher-quality jobs as it awaits a possible upgrade of the country to upper-middle income status next year.

“Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen progress in unemployment and underemployment numbers. These numbers do not matter as much because they are already too low, so what matters now is the quality of the jobs,” the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general added.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the unemployment rate improved to 3.8 percent in February from 4.3 percent in January. Meanwhile, the underemployment rate, representing workers seeking longer job hours or regularly salaried work, also declined to 10.1 percent from 13.3 percent.

Not this year

Despite the improving labor data, Balisacan said global economic uncertainties from Trump’s tariffs might slow production activities, hindering the country from reaching the upper-middle income classification by the World Bank this year.

“Achieving that status is probably not doable this year because the statistics or data on our performance this year will come out in the middle of next year,” he said.

“If we grow faster this year, we may be able to get to that status next year. But we are facing many unknowns or uncertainties,” Balisacan continued.

The World Bank determines a country’s income status through its gross national income (GNI) per capita, which means the average income of its citizens. A higher GNI per capita indicates a better quality of life in a country.

The Philippines improved its GNI per capita from $4,010 in 2022 to $4,320 in 2023. To be an upper-middle-income country, it must reach at least $4,516.

Balisacan hopes the local economy will grow 6 percent this year and hit that income status next.

Multiple factors considered

While GNI per capita is a helpful gauge for economic progress, Balisacan cautioned Filipino citizens to avoid being “fixated” on it.

“It’s a broad measure, but unfortunately, it cannot capture everything,” he said.

“For me, what’s even more important are other indicators like employment, and numbers on poverty, hunger, and literacy. These define the standard of living in the country,” Balisacan added.

Based on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment, compared to the global students’ average score of 476, Filipinos scored around 350 in Math, Reading and Science in 2022.

According to the World Bank, the country’s poverty rate was also worse, at 15.5 percent in 2023, compared to Indonesia’s 9 percent and Vietnam’s 3 percent.

Balisacan said that NEDA will streamline infrastructure and other development master plans from the current and previous administrations to boost the quality of jobs through investments and guide government agencies in executing them.

He said officials can accomplish these tasks faster once NEDA fully transitions into the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev).

“DEPDev is tasked with crafting the country’s long-term vision and providing the long-term development framework, which means 25 years,” Balisacan said.

“There’s nothing else besides investments that can improve employment over the long haul, whether they are foreign or domestic investors and whether there are Trump’s tariffs or not,” he added.