THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is confident that the country’s employment rate will go northward in the coming months.
This after the number of unemployed Filipinos went down to 2. 93 million in January 2022 compared to 3.27 million last December 2021, according to the recent Labor Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said that they see that the country’s economy will improve in the next few months.
It is because more employees are expected to go back to work since many areas in the country were already placed under Alert Level 1.
Chua explained that the Omicron variant prevented the return to work of many employees last January, and this affected the employment rate.
But now that the spread of the virus had been curbed somewhat, this means increased capacity in establishments and a more relaxed transportation.
This is equivalent to an additional P10.8 billion per week in terms of economic activity and 195,000 less unemployed compared to Alert Level 2.
Meanwhile, Chua reiterated the need for schools in areas under Alert Level 1 to open already for the holding of face-to-face classes.
He said this will also be a big help to the economy as more parents now have the opportunity to return to work.