The Philippines will have to create over a million jobs annually between this year and 2016 to substantially reduce grinding poverty in the country, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said yesterday.
“And not just ordinary jobs, but quality jobs,” Balisacan told a luncheon-meeting of the Foreign Correspodents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).
Balisacan, concurrently Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), pointed out that while one-third of the country’s workforce is in agriculture, that sector only contributes around 12% to gross domestic product. He said jobs that need to be created, such as those in manufacturing and tourism, will have to contribute more to the economy.
Balisacan said the government’s goal is to reduce poverty levels in the Philippines to 16.6% of the population from 33% in 1991.
Government statistics showed that in the first half of 2012, poverty incidence was at 27.9%, down slightly from 28.6% in 2009, the year before President Benigno Aquino III took power. A family of five is considered extremely poor if its income is only 5,458 Philippine pesos ($125.75) a month, an amount just enough to cover food requirements, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.
He said the government’s medium-term development plan is now being refined to focus efforts on reviving manufacturing and bolstering industries such as tourism, housing and logistics.
“It’s a major challenge, but it’s not an impossible task,” he added.
It will be a tough task, however. April data showed that 37.82 million Filipinos are employed. That figure is down from 37.84 million in the year-earlier period, pushing unemployment to 7.5% from 6.9% over the period in review. Of the workforce, 19.2% were considered underemployed, or those working less than 40 hours a week and still looking for additional work.
Balisacan said the government will have to seek more investments from both local and foreign investors to create the quality jobs needed by the economy to lift many more Filipinos out of poverty.
Despite recent credit ratings upgrades and strong economic growth, the Philippines still lags behind its neighbors in attracting foreign direct investments. Central bank data showed that net foreign direct investments in the Philippines over the past decade averaged $1.5 billion compared with Indonesia’s $8.82 billion and Thailand’s $7.88 billion.
Balisacan said that the government is sticking to its 6-7 percent growth forecast this year despite the surprising 7.8 percent GDP leap in the first quarter, preferring to be conservative due to remaining economic uncertainties in the US, Europe and China.
The economy is projected to grow between 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent next year and 7-8 percent in 2015.
He stressed that infrastructure bottlenecks will be addressed and the economy diversified from dependence on consumption and services to one with stronger industries and investments.
The Philippines’ top economic manager says the government aims to sustain growth to halve poverty to 16.6 percent of the population by 2016 from nearly 28 percent.

Source: Manila Bulletin - July 6, 2013