In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. committed to boosting the country’s workforce by creating more high-quality jobs for Filipinos who are either unemployed or underemployed.
The fulfillment of this promise is underway, as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)’s latest Labor Force Survey showed an increase of 610,000 employed Filipinos compared to the previous year, accompanied by a decrease of 840,000 among underemployed individuals or those seeking longer work hours or additional jobs.
The enactment of Republic Act (RA) 119621 or the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) Act also serves as a step toward the achievement of this goal, as it mandates the development of a master plan that will focus on employment generation and recovery, including the creation of “more quality and decent jobs.”
In accordance with Marcos’ SONA 2023 promise to grow the country’s services sector, the government continues its support for the Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector through upskilling and accelerator programs. Concurrently, given the tourism industry’s significant contribution in job generation for Filipinos, the government promised to keep enhancing tourism infrastructure and visitor experience to further increase employment opportunities.
Meanwhile, of the three pending promises Marcos made to the migrant workers sector in his first and second SONA, one has been fulfilled while progress on the other two has halted.
Here’s how Marcos fared in his labor-related SONA promises:
