The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. intends to provide better quality jobs to Filipinos in the midst of sliding unemployment rate and slowing inflation, a socioeconomic planning official said on Tuesday.
In a press briefing in Malacañang, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said that the Marcos administration’s whole-of-government approach has helped slowed down inflation and the unemployment rate.
“Kasi nakita rin natin, iyong latest na labor force survey, iyong result lalabas pa lang sa Thursday pero iyong mga dati nating nakita na results na labor force survey… actually bumababa ang ating unemployment rate, so ibig sabihin, dumadami rin talaga iyong nagkakaroon ng trabaho,” Edillon said.
“So, ang interest na lang natin ngayon is mapadami pa ‘to and then make it, you know, better quality jobs – iyon ang intent ng Marcos administration,” she added.
Asked if NEDA would support a legislated wage hike to match the inflation rate, the NEDA official said that the agency thinks that, currently, the wage setting mechanism is actually working.
Citing a report by Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, she said that 11 of the regional wage boards have already issued wage increases which were all decided by consensus.
With regard to inflation, Edillon said that prices are still rising but not as much as it increased in September.
As the population grows, incomes also increase and so did the demand, she said.
“Nagkakaroon talaga ng pagtaas sa presyo. So kung makikita ninyo iyong … sa DBCC, iyong mga tina-target namin na inflation rate between two and four, lagi talagang magkakaroon at magkakaroon ng inflation kasi nga lumalaki iyong demand,” Edillon explained.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that inflation in October significantly slowed down to 4.9 percent from 6.1 percent the previous month, which brings the year-to-date inflation to 6.4 percent.
Commodities with decelerated inflation include rice, vegetables, fish, bread and other cereals, sugar and meat while rice inflation, on the other hand, slowed down following the onset of peak harvest and also the import arrivals. | PND
Photo Courtesy of PCO