Senator Joel Villanueva welcomed the results of the survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which showed that the unemployment rate of the country has improved from 5.7% in April 2017 to 5.5% in April 2018.
“We welcome the improved outlook for employment in the country with the decline of unemployment rate from 5.7% in April 2017 to 5.5% in April 2018,” said Villanueva, chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development.
“We are positive that more ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs’ will be generated by the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program of the administration, and if skills development and retooling programs of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will be bolstered for more skilled workers, ultimately, investors will do business here, increasing quality employment opportunities within the country,” the legislator added.
We are positive that more ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs’ will be generated by the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program of the administration.
The lawmaker lamented that the lack of employment opportunities or low pay in the country “has always been the reason for the huge number of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), working in 190 countries all over the world, but if more investors will do business in the country and we have skilled workers, working abroad would just truly be an option and not a compulsion to skip abject poverty”.
If more investors will do business in the country and we have skilled workers, working abroad would just truly be an option and not a compulsion to skip abject poverty.
Noting the increase in number of OFWs deployed from 2.2 million in 2016 to 2.3 million in 2017, the senator urged the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the economic managers to prioritize skills upgrading and the creation of quality jobs in the country.
“The continued outflow of workers have huge social costs not to mention the depletion of the country’s competitive advantage which is skilled labor. That’s why TESDA must continue and bolster its training to tap more skilled workers and open more job opportunities for the Filipino workforce,” Villanueva stressed.