LABOR secretary Silvestre Bello III on Saturday said the rise in the rate of unemployment in the third quarter is due to the jobs lost in the agriculture sector following typhoons that hit the country.
“Dito sa last quarter natin, madaming nawalan ng trabaho sa agricultural sector dahil siyempre wala silang magawa, dinalaw tayo ni Typhoon Ompong pagkatapos sinundan ni Typhoon Rosita,” Bello said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.
“Yung mga kapatid, manggagawa sa agrikultura, mga farmers nawalan ng trabaho pero panandalian lang ‘yan,” he said.
The jobless rate slightly rose in October and the employment rate declined, results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Labor Force Survey showed.
Of the 71.886-million population of 15 years old and above, the unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent in October, from 5.0 percent in the same month last year.
This translates to 2.202 million of unemployed Filipinos in the labor force, compared with 2.185 million year-on-year.
The employment rate meanwhile slipped to 94.9 percent or 41.329 million Filipinos from 95.0 percent or 41.547 million in the same comparable period.
Bello however said that summing up the figures from the first to third quarter, the unemployment rate went down.
“Namo-monitor namin ‘yan, nagkaroon ng pagtaas ng unemployment rate only for this third quarter. Pero kung sumahin mo mula nu’ng first quarter up to this quarter, bumaba ang unemployment rate natin,” he said.
Bello also said the Build Build Build infrastructure program of the government is helping address the unemployment rate.
“Actually nakakatulong na [ito sa pagtugon sa unemployment rate]. Pero dito sa year 2019-2020 ‘yan talaga dadagsa na ang employment opening dahil full blast na ‘yung mga infrastructure program ng ating Pangulo. Mag-uumpisa na ‘yung circumferential railway du’n sa Mindanao, ‘yung pagtatayo ng pinakamalaking tulay diyan sa Visayas,” he said.
“Eh talagang dadagsa na ang mga trabaho. At umaasa kami na ‘yung estimate ng ating mga economic advisers na makaka-produce ng at least 800,000 to one million work for 2019, palagay ko ma-a-achieve natin ‘yan,” Bello said.
REVERSE JOB FAIR
Bello also said two of the undersecretaries at the Department of Labor and Employment are planning to hold a reverse job fair in the Middle East to entice overseas Filipino workers to go home and work in the Philippines.
He added that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority can go full blast in training those who will return to the country to work. (With GMA News/PN)
