NEDA chief defends Marcos’ employment report, but admits challenges on generating productive jobs

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan on Tuesday defended President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s report on the country’s employment situation during his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) amid criticisms that it was “overstated” and “far from reality.”

In his SONA on Monday, Marcos said the employment rate as of May this year stood at 95.7%, describing it as “clear proof of the improvement from the severe unemployment that we experienced during the height of the pandemic.”

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III later said the President’s employment figures were “far from reality” and should mean “full employment.”

For Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, the figures were “overstated.”

“Overstated ‘yung kanilang employment percentages and underemployment percentages… Pag 95% ang employment sa isang ekonomiya, full employment na ‘yon. So, you mean to tell me, Mr. President, more than full employment na tayo? Hindi po,” she said.

[The employment percentages and underemployment percentages were overstated. If there is 95% employment in one economy, that’s already full employment. So you mean to tell me, Mr. President, we're already more than full employment? It's not the case.]

But Balisacan came to the defense of the government’s official employment figures.

“What we need to understand is that the way we define an employed person is consistent with global practices,” the NEDA chief said at the sidelines of the Post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) Philippine Economic Briefing in Pasay City.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the number of employed individuals — defined as those who 15 years old and above with jobs or livelihood— stood at 48.26 million in May 2023 from 46.08 million in May 2022.

As a percentage to the total 50.43 million labor force participants, the figures translate to an employment rate of 95.7%, higher than the 95.5% in April 2023 and 94% in May 2022.

Meanwhile, underemployed persons or those who expressed desire to have additional work hours in their present job or to have an additional job or to have a new job with longer hours of work was reported at 5.66 million of the 48.26 million employed persons.

This translated to an underemployment rate of 11.7% in May 2023.

The underemployment rate in May 2023 was the second lowest since April 2005 with March 2023 underemployment rate of 11.2% being the lowest, according to the PSA.

Despite the promising employment statistics, Balisacan admitted that “our economy over the decades have not been able to sufficiently generate productive, remunerative employment opportunities.”

“The only way you can generate productive employment opportunities —employment that will give enough wages, incomes to afford basic goods and services— is to have massive investment coming in so that more factories are built, more roads, more offices, and so on… productive places,” the NEDA chief said.

“Without these investments there’s no way you can create productive employment.

We can create employment like peddlers in the streets [or] sari-sari stores, those are called employment, but they are not the ones that will bring you out of poverty,” he said.

In his opening statement, Balisacan said the “government will create and promote an enabling policy and regulatory environment conducive to investment, innovation, and high-quality job creation.”

“In line with this objective, we will continue to strengthen our public-private partnership or PPP framework and facilitate the efficient assessment of PPPs,” he said. 

In the Senate, Senator Jinggoy Estrada said he will clarify the data on unemployment with the Department of Labor and Employment.

“Yung employment rate siguro nag-improve naman pero I don’t think it is that high…Well, I will seek clarification from the DOLE,” Estrada, chairperson of the Senate labor and employment panel, said.

(The employment rate might be improving but I don’t think it is that high. Well, I will seek clarification from the  DOLE.) — with Hana Bordey/RSJ, GMA Integrated News