Industry buildup urged after weak jobs outlook

THE PHILIPPINES must work to develop industry and agriculture in anticipation of growing global joblessness this year, labor organizations said.

“The government should look more into helping industries become more competitive and enhance the agriculture sector’s productivity to boost employment generation, and mitigate the increase in prices of basic commodities,” Renato B. Magtubo, chairman of Partidong Manggagawa, said in a Viber message.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in its 2024 World Employment and Social Outlook report published late Wednesday, projected the global jobless rate of 5.2% this year, up from 5.1% a year earlier.

Mr. Magtubo added that the Philippines needs a wage-setting mechanism that helps workers deal with the rising cost of basic goods.

The unemployment rate dropped to an 18-year low in November of 3.6%, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Tuesday.

Job quality was stagnant that month as the underemployment rate, the share of the employed who are seeking more work or longer working hours, stayed at 11.7%.

The ILO said in its report that the global labor market is set to “deteriorate moderately” because of the increased joblessness in advanced economies.

“The erosion of real wages and living standards by high and persistent inflation rates and rising costs of housing is unlikely to be offset quickly,” it said.

The ILO said countries should also boost their domestic productivity as about 58% of workers worldwide still are engaged in informal work.

“The government has to take more serious consideration of how structural informality in the economy was made worse by the overly long and harsh pandemic lockdowns,” Jose Enrique A. Africa, executive director of the think tank IBON Foundation, said in a Viber message.

Last year, Congress passed a bill seeking to make Philippinemade products more globally competitive.

The Tatak Pinoy bill aims to develop a multi-year strategy to improve and diversify enterprises and linking them to global value chains.

In a separate statement, Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma said the Department of Labor and Employment will continue working with the private sector to keep unemployment down.

He said about 200,000 jobs are expected to be generated from investment pledges made to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. during his overseas trips.

The President’s foreign trips last year resulted in P4.019 trillion or $72.189 billion in investments and pledges for various Philippine development projects, the Presidential Communications Office said in December.

“This should be a wake-up call for the government to develop a comprehensive industrial policy that would realize our aspirations for ‘full employment,’” Josua T. Mata, secretary general of the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, said in a Viber message.