DOLE Reports Improvement of Employment Situation
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced the latest updates in the facilitation of employment services and the implementation of laws that secured the rights of workers on June 16.
The labor agency confirms the improvement of the employment situation in the Philippines over time. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III attributed the hosting of regional job fairs to the continued advancement of the employment situation to employ more Filipinos, resulting in a decrease in the country’s unemployment rate.
“The improving employment situation of the country is the manifestation of the effectiveness of our employment facilitation services in getting more Filipinos employed. Also, more Filipino workers are now enjoying remunerative and stable employment with the strict implementation of laws that ensure the protection and security of our workers,” Bello said.
On May 22, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Senate Bill No. 1826, “Security of Tenure and End of Endo Act of 2018” introducing amendments and provisions to the Labor Code which prohibits the practice of end of contract, otherwise known as “endo” to provide employees with work security.
DOLE together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) conduct job fairs and host a livelihood summit titled, “Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan” (TNK) every special non-working holidays. DOLE and DTI held the latest TNK job and business fair during the celebration of Philippine Independence on June 12.
Labor Force Survey Results
According to the April 2019 Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the government generated 1.346 million jobs for this year, with a total of 42.242 million Filipinos employed, a higher statistic compared to 2018’s 40.896 million employed Filipinos. The labor participation rate rose from April 2018’s 60.9% to April 2019’s 61.4%.
The employment rate only had a slight increase of .4% resulting to 94.9% this year compared to 94.5& last April 2018, last April 2018 and the underemployment rate decreased by 3.5%, resulting in 13.5% from April last year’s 17.0%. The percentage of unemployed Filipinos decreased from 5.5% in April 2018 to 5.1% this year, which is the lowest unemployment rate recorded since 2009 (18.9%).
Employment rates from different areas of the country reached 90% and above. The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is the region with the highest employment rate of 97.1% with Cagayan Valley trailing behind at just 97.0% and the Davao region at 96.9%. Most regions listed in the April 2019 LFS did not have a rating lower than National Capital Region’s 93.7% employment rate.
The improvements in the underemployment rate was a result of the government’s continued hosting of job fairs around the country, increased regional wages for workers, and the use of PhilJobNet, a job searching platform developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) with DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE).
Bello then promised to continue assisting Filipinos by improving their employment procedures and the creation of programs to safeguard the rights of each employee.
“The labor department will remain relentless in uplifting the quality of life of every Filipino worker and their families by strengthening our employment facilitation services and enhancing our social protection programs for our workers. We are also consistent in pushing for the passage of the security of tenure bill to stop all forms of abusive employment practices that continue to immerse our workers in a quagmire of poverty and underemployment,” Bello affirmed.
