PH launches 10-year masterplan for job creation, labor market transformation

May 10 ------ The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) launched a 10-year Labor Market Development Plan that will serve as a masterplan for job creation, labor market transformation, and workforce development for the next decade. “Trabaho Para sa Bayan” (TPB) Plan 2025-2034 lays out priority strategies such as expanding and facilitating access to markets, encouraging investments in the priority sectors, ensuring ease of doing business, establishing a dynamic innovation ecosystem, and promoting technology adoption. 

It also seeks to promote and encourage enterprise-based education, and to future-proof labor demand by improving market intelligence systems, intensifying research and development efforts, and encouraging the graduation of informal sectors, solopreneurs, and micro and small enterprises (MSEs), among others. The program also highlights the need to expand lifelong learning opportunities, upgrade the design of skills training programs, enhance overseas Filipino (OF) reintegration programs, and increase program take-up especially among the disadvantaged. “This transformation strengthens our mandate as we integrate various socioeconomic goals into a unified and forward-looking strategy that truly benefits all Filipinos,” DEPDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement. 

Balisacan also cited changes in the Philippine labor market amid automation, digitalization, and emerging technologies which pose challenges to the economic landscape, along with pressures from climate change and demographic shifts. “These evolving trends underscore the urgent need for adaptive policies that foster economic growth and offer essential support to Filipino workers as they navigate these evolving challenges,” Balisacan said. “With our collective effort, we will create an inclusive, efficient, and dynamic labor market environment where Filipinos can access meaningful, quality jobs, enabling them to have a matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay,” he added. 

Latest data available from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that there were 1.94 million Filipinos aged 15 and above unemployed in February, equivalent to an unemployment rate of 3.8%. This is higher than the 1.80 million jobless in February 2024, but lower than the 2.16 million in January. There were 49.15 million employed Filipinos during the month, equivalent to an employment rate of 96.2%. Out of the employed individuals, there were 4.86 million underemployed or 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. 

Source: gmanetwork.com