NEDA warns job losses to rise

THE number of jobless Filipinos are expected to rise this year and in 2012 because of the economic slowdown in the US and Europe, a senior official of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) warned Thursday.

Ruperto Macuja, NEDA assistant director general, said the Philippine unemployment rate is expected to increase by 0.25 percentage points, translating to about 100,000 persons who would lose their jobs because of the global crisis.

For next year, Ruperto estimated a 0.30-percentage point increase in unemployment rate, or 123,000 persons who may lose their jobs.

Data from the National Statistics Office showed that the unemployment rose to 7.1 percent last July to 2.82 million, higher than the 7 percent, or 2.71 million unemployed in July last year.
In terms of economic impact, Ruperto said the slowdown in the US and Europe could cut Philippine gross domestic product by 0.8 percentage points this year and another 0.8 percentage points in 2012.

“NEDA is vigilantly monitoring and we have advised the President about this and we have counter solutions for slowdown globally,” he said.

The slowdown would cut GDP by 0.7 percentage points in the third quarter and 0.9 percentage points in the fourth quarter, the official said. “We see that in the production, the industry sector will be most affected. Services and agriculture will be affected,” Macuja said.

On the expenditure side, exports and investments will bear the brunt of the slowdown, he said. To counter the global slowdown, the government will implement a massive infrastructure spending in the transport and power sectors, the NEDA official said.

“We can also strengthen domestic demand and in social expenditure,” he added. The country’s GDP growth slowed to 3.4 percent in the second quarter from 8.9-percent last year.

GDP refers to the total value of final goods and services produced in the country. During the first half of the year, the economy grew by 4 percent, much lower than the government’s target of 7 percent to 8 percent this year. –Darwin G. Amojelar Senior Reporter, Manila Times