Tackling unemployment key provision of budget

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ADDRESSING mounting employment is seen as the key component of the budget that was expected to be signed into law this week.

That at least is the reading of the political climate amidst which the proposed P1.645 trillion General Appropriations Act that Malacañang will sign into law says Rep. Elpidio Barzaga of Cavite City.

“Government is the country’s single largest consumer and biggest employer. Its spending will help propel economic as well as jobs growth next year,” Barzaga points out. He added that the government would pay out some P526 billion in salaries and benefits to public sector workers next year, thus driving household consumption spending.

“Government spending will stimulate in a big way the demand for goods and services and in the process energize local industries,” he said.

Domestic industries benefiting directly and indirectly from the spending are bound to create new employment, according to Barzaga. Next year’s budget represents almost one-fifth or 18.2 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

The budget’s P148.2-billion fresh allocation for new public infrastructure spending would also be another driver of jobs growth.

“A provision in the budget requires contractors to adopt a labor-intensive mode of implementation of infrastructure projects. Priority hiring will be accorded to the underprivileged residents of local communities where the projects are located,” said Barzaga, adding that the infrastructure spending would benefit poor households, mainly through construction-related jobs.

Meanwhile, the P6.6 billion budget of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) includes P700 million for the Training for Work Program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. According to the solon the program would benefit 50,000 job seekers.

He also said P425 million has been set aside for the DOLE’s Capability-Building for Employment Service of Students and Workers’
Income Augmentation Program. Another P300 million has been allotted for the department’s Employment Placement Facilitation Program, plus P21 million for Labor Market Information and Networking Program.

In terms of direct hiring, Barzaga said government would be creating 14,000 new posts next year—for 10,000 teachers and 4,000 police, fire and jail officers.

His remarks on the proposed budget came not long after the latest Labor Force Survey showed that some 2.8 million Filipinos were totally without jobs in October, up from 2.72 million in the same month in 2009.

The survey indicated that some 80,000 able-bodied Filipinos aged 15 years old and above joined the ranks of the unemployed over the 12-month period.

The number of underemployed Filipinos—those only partially employed and actively seeking longer hours of work—also increased by 260,000 heads over the same period, from 6.88 million to 7.14 million, according to the survey. –Random Jotting, Manila Times

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