Caught flat-footed

The corruption scandal that erupted last year fractured the public trust, slowed the economy, and left the country exposed when the recent Middle East crisis hit.

Economic growth limped to 4.4 percent, far below the 5.5-percent target. Unemployment climbed to 5.8 percent in January, the highest in more than three years, with nearly three million Filipinos out of work.

Saddled with corruption allegations, the government froze, affecting most agencies whose heads are trying to avoid being embroiled in controversy

Policies reflect a failure to create real, lasting opportunities, as short-term fixes such as cash assistance, job fairs and training programs were resorted to, but these failed to address the root causes of the problem.

Farming jobs swing wildly with every fuel price spike. Manufacturing has not grown enough to absorb more workers and the service sector has become a dumping ground for people who cannot find better work.

Job creation in 2025 was a meager 172,000, far below the long-term average of around 700,000 and the target of employing one million Filipinos annually.

That gap shows a clear lack of investment in the kinds of industries and farms that could produce steady, productive employment.

The lack of a concrete roadmap for jobs threatens to squander the so-called demographic sweet spot in which the majority of the population is of working age.

Young Filipinos are paying a heavy price, missing out on jobs not because they lack skills but because the economy simply is not creating enough quality employment.

Even full-time work has become unstable, with huge month-to-month swings that point to an informal low-productivity rather than solid growth.

As the Middle East war lingers, tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are returning home to safety.

Many of them are skilled in construction, domestic work and technical fields, and they have long been sending home billions in remittances, which propped up the economy.

Their sudden return will add to the pressure on the crowded job market while reducing the flow of foreign money that families depended on for their daily survival.

The administration has no clear plan ready for the influx, such as a large-scale program to match returning workers with productive domestic jobs.

An accelerated push to modernize agriculture so farms could reliably hire more people would be ideal since the majority of the workforce depends on this industrial sector.

There is also no serious drive to build Filipino manufacturing capable of competing globally.

An economist said that without a foundation of factories, the returning OFWs will join the ranks of the unemployed or underemployed, pushing the jobless rate even higher and straining government resources already stretched thin by inflation and high oil prices.

Thus, a strategic failure is obvious. For years, the economy has relied on consumer spending, remittances, and low-end services instead of building strong production engines.

Delaying the necessary changes worked when times were calm, but it exposed the weaknesses under global shocks.

Short-term aid or “ayuda” and temporary hires cannot fix the structural problem.

The labor market is already raising red flags with the recent high jobless rate.

Adding thousands more desperate workers without real opportunities will only make the crisis worse and expose how little has been done to prepare the country for exactly this kind of external shock.

Only urgent, long-term reforms can stop the downward slide.

The country’s army of young, skilled workers should have been its greatest advantage during this crisis, but weak policies have turned it into part of the problem.