President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. assured the public that his administration would work hard to end poverty in the Philippines as he lauded the rise of the country's employment rate. Marcos said this after the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Thursday, March 9, that the country's unemployment rate declined to 4.8 percent in January 2023 from 6.4 percent during the same period last year. The employment rate accelerated to 95.2 percent, translating to an additional 4.1 million employed persons, bringing the total employment to 47.4 million from 43.3 million in January 2022. The same report showed that underemployment in the country decreased to 14.1 percent in January 2023 from the 14.9 percent recorded in the same period last year. In a tweet, the President vowed to end poverty as he celebrated the positive development. "Padami nang padami ang nagkakaroon ng magandang trabaho (More and more Filipinos are getting good jobs)!" he said. "Tayo'y magpupursigi hanggang sa tuluyan na nating mawakasan ang kahirapan (We will work hard so we can finally end poverty)!" he added. Based on the PSA report released on Thursday, the labor force participation rate rebounded to 64.5 percent, equivalent to 49.7 million Filipinos in the labor force, of which 20.6 million are women. According to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, the latest employment indicators show the robust recovery and growth of the country's labor market from its slump in January 2022, when the surge in Omicron cases prompted stringent mobility and capacity restrictions. However, he noted that employment created year-on-year was mostly part-time and classified as vulnerable. "It is imperative that labor market policies and programs that directly contribute to labor productivity and employment generation must be prioritized, not only to preserve jobs but also to generate quality jobs," Balisacan said.