The Aquino government should strive to create more quality jobs o make the country's economic growth inclusive, Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero said yesterday.
The re-electionist senator issued this statement in response to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary General Arsenio Balisacan's statement that it would take about $3 billion in new investments annually to be able to generate from three million to four million jobs and catch up with the employment back log.
Balisacan based his statements on a study of the World Bank that at least 3 million jobs are needed to be created to sustain economic growth and achieve President Aquino's goal of making growth inclusive.
"Quality jobs showed be created to provide Filipinos with sufficient pay to afford the rising cost of living," Escudero said.
Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO), he said, have shown that while the official unemployment rate covered around 7 to 8 percent, the underemployment rate still reaches as high as 20 percent.
"This indicates that most jobs being created do not pay enough for Filipinos to paid their families," Escudero said.
"In this highly home competitive world, there is a crying need fpr the government to assure that schools in the country, for one, are able to produce graduates who have the capability to find quality work that mostly requires a sufficient level of technology skills," he said.
It is, therefore, incumbent for the public school system to be innovated and grow as fast as technology changes to allow Filipinos students to be competitive in the job market when they graduate.
"Technology changes at lightning speed that what is learned in school today maybe considered obsolete in one or two years," said Escudero, noting the timely introduction of the K to12 expanded education program of the government.
"There is an overriding need for public schools to not only modernize but to be updated with the latest developments in technology," he said.
Another area that the government should reassess is the development of the agricultural and industrial sectors from which most Filipinos rely on for employment.
"It also requires modern technology to be able to compete in an open market primarily with the start of the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) economic block in 2015," the senator said.
"Experts say that for the country to be able to generate enough jobs, the focus should be on sectors with the inherent ability to create employment such as the tourism, agriculture and manufacturing sectors," he added.

Source: Manila Bulletin - February 16, 2013