00:00 Jobs, jobs, jobs. The ultimate cure-all pill to the country`s economic woes. And in the
00:06 latest count by the Philippine Statistics Authority, a substantial number of Filipinos
00:11 found work over the last two months to signify a turnaround in the economy that international
00:16 credit raters and financial institutions project the country`s growth at year end by over one
00:22 and a half percentage points higher than the region`s.
00:25 Carmela Lasmodas crunches more numbers in this story.
00:32 More and more Filipinos are getting jobs nowadays. Like Angela, a newly hired cashier in this
00:37 food place. As a single mom, Angela said she really appreciates getting more opportunities
00:43 as it means a brighter future for her small family.
00:46 "It`s very important because we have children to study, we have to sustain. I`ll just save
00:56 some money for food so I can send it to them."
01:01 Based on the latest report of the Philippine Statistics Authority, the number of Filipinos
01:05 without jobs declined further in August, which is a good sign for the economy. Compared
01:11 to the data gathered in July, the unemployment rate last August went down to 4.4 percent.
01:17 That means more Filipinos substantially found work or livelihood from more than 44.5 million
01:22 to a little over 48 million.
01:25 When it comes to underemployed workers or those seeking more stable jobs, the number
01:29 also went down from 15.9 percent in July to 11.7 percent last August.
01:36 "The increase in the number of self-employed and unpaid family workers is huge. There were
01:47 economic opportunities, particularly the preparatory to the school opening. And the
01:53 planting in Agri."
01:58 According to the Presidential Communications Office, while they are happy with all these
02:02 developments, the administration will continue pushing to generate more high-quality and
02:07 well-paying job opportunities for the Filipino workforce.
02:11 NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan in a press conference also echoed the same sentiment.
02:17 "We need nothing less than massive investment to create those high-quality jobs. And that's
02:24 why our economic team, our president has been marketing the country to not only to the local
02:32 entrepreneurs here, businesses, but also foreign investors to come and invest in the Philippines
02:40 because that's what will create high-quality jobs."
02:43 On inflation, the government is also working hard to tame and stabilize it so everyone
02:48 can have a better and tad happier Christmas this year.
02:52 "Of course the inflation is a concern, right? But as I said, we are working to ensure that
02:59 we will go to that target of 2 to 4 percent. And so what that means is from 6.1 we need
03:09 to gradually move there. Even as there are, of course, external threats, external risks,
03:17 we still don't know how the oil prices, for example, would behave because it's been fluctuating
03:25 around the trend. But I think that my answer to your question is yes, we should definitely
03:37 see a much more improved economy despite the challenges in Christmas 2023."
03:46 Melalee Moras for The Nation.
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