The country’s employment rate is improving, according to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma on Thursday, Nov. 9.

This came after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the unemployment rate dropped 4.5 percent in September.

“In fact ay atin pong pinag-ukulan ng pansin yung pinakahuling ulat ng atin pong PSA. Ang nakita naman po naman on a year-to-year comparison [...] eh bumuti naman po ating employment rate. Even on a year on year comparison pati po yung underemployment rate at unemployment rate meron pong improvement,” Laguesma told DZRH in an interview.

“Ang nagkaroon po ng bahagyang pagtaas [ay] ito pong month-to-month. August 2023 compared sa September 2023. At ang nadagdag po na bilang doon sa bulto ng unemployed from the previous survey, humigit kumulang po ay mga 400,000,” he added.

The DOLE chief noted that self-employed and unpaid family worker categories took a hit in the number of unemployed Filipinos.

“Ito po nakita natin na bahagi po ng pagkakaroon ng pagbawas ay yun pong sa kategorya ng self-employed tsaka unpaid family worker,” he said.

Laguesma added that they were looking over the matter for possible interventions that the government could offer to these sectors, especially for the remaining months of the year.

“Tinitingnan ito on a note na medyo kailangan siguro tingnan pa kung anong karagdagang intervention ang pwedeng gawin ng ating pamahalaan lalo na po ngayong last quarter. Historically kasi dito po nakikita natin medyo nadadagdagan ang bilang ng atin pong nagkakaroon ng hanap buhay,” the DOLE chief said.

Laguesma claimed that nearly 700,000 fresh graduates add to the number of unemployment every year after graduation.

“Sa taya po mga humigit kumulang 700,000 po more or less [at] kaya dapat po talaga ang pinupunto ng ating pamahalaan katulong po ang pribadong sektor [...] ay dapat hihigit po tayo sa bilang na yun nang sa ganon po yung exact number ng unemployed ay dapat mabawasan,” he said.

“Tuloy-tuloy po ang ginagawang intervention ng ating gobyerno upang makalikha katulong ng mga hanapbuhay [...] Ang pinakamahalaga [ay] makalikha ng mas dekalidad na trabaho, pangmatagalan at more remunerative para po sa ating mga manggagawa,” the DOLE chief added.