Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, principal sponsor and author of the Trabaho para sa Bayan Act, pushes for more quality jobs for the Filipinos, saying seasonal employment should not be a benchmark for the country’s lower unemployment rate.
“Expectations of increased hiring due to the holidays is a positive development. But this should not detract us from the fact that these are seasonal jobs and cyclical – you are employed for a few months and then unemployed in the next,” he said.
During the deliberations of the 2024 budget of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Villanueva reiterated President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s call for immediate drafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11964 or the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) Act to set in motion crucial reforms to put decent employment at the heart of the country’s industrial policy.
“We will closely monitor NEDA’s commitments on the timeline, plans and consultations on the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act’s IRR. Every single day for our people in dire need of livelihood or job counts,” the Majority Leader said.
Villanueva has proposed a P5 million initial budget for the implementation of the TPB Act in the 2024 appropriations to be placed under the NEDA to start the rollout of the law’s programs.
As of September 2023, the country’s unemployment rate stood at 4.5 percent, up from 4.4 percent the previous month. On the other hand, the underemployment rate is at 10.7%, lower than the 11.7% reported rate in August 2023.
The PSA described underemployed persons as “those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job or to have a new job with longer hours of work.”
“The holidays will create additional jobs but with the implementation of the TPB Plan, there will be more stable and regular jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, agri-fishing, and not dependent on seasonal spending. These should be add-ons rather than the main source of jobs,” he said.
Signed into law on September 27, 2023, Villanueva said the TPB Act presents a critical solution in providing Filipinos decent and sustainable jobs.
Under the law, the government shall establish a national employment generation and recovery masterplan with a three, six and 10-year development timeline. The master plan includes initiatives for supporting micro, small and medium enterprises, worker upskilling, employer incentives, youth employment, as well as for the reintegration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), among others.
“Magandang aginaldo po ang trabaho para sa ating mga kababayan. Ngunit hindi po ito dapat ibinibigay tuwing Pasko lamang. Tuloy-tuloy dapat ang trabaho at pangmatagalan, sa lahat ng panahon at okasyon, upang matiyak ang pag-unlad sa buhay ng bawat Pilipino,” Villanueva ended.