The latest employment figures show that the Marcos administration’s aggressive move to resume face-to-face activities has begun to bear fruit.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda gave this assessment Friday, Jan. 6 as he examined the sectors that gained under the November 2022 employment report.

Salceda said the figures "demonstrate very strong economic momentum, especially when viewed from a month-on-month perspective. We gained 2.6 million new jobs from October to November 2022, which is 61 percent of the year-on-year jobs gains of 4.23 million new jobs".

"That is in significant part due to the decision to resume face-to-face activities, especially class instruction," he said.

It was November 2022 when full face-to-face classes were resumed for the first time after more than two years.

"Consumer spending toward the year-end also helped create new jobs. Most year-end bonuses should have been given around this month. This is especially the case for employees in the public sector," noted the Bicolano.

"I am particularly encouraged by jobs growth in manufacturing, with a YOY (year-on-year) increase of 980,000 jobs, 683,000 of which gained MOM (month-on-month). Manufacturing jobs are generally more durable than retail jobs, although the sector gained 1.3 million jobs YOY and 928,000 jobs over the past month," he said.

According to the economist-solon, manufacturing jobs are also "an unmistakable sign that the economy’s productive capacity is gaining steam".

"This corroborates my initial observation from the official October manufacturing figures, which showed that the fastest growth rate was in manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical. The sector posted the highest annual growth rate of 76.4 percent in October 2022.

"When the economy manufactures more machines for more manufacturing, it is a sign that businesses see more demand in the coming months – and are thus expanding their productive muscle," Salceda explained.

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But the November employment numbers weren't all good news, as Salceda would take note.

"I am concerned about losses in construction, which shed some 392,000 jobs from last month. Much of this has to do with weather: more rain means less construction can get done," he said.

"We are also losing fishing jobs – 530,000 of them YOY, and 211,000 over the past month. I attribute that to a whole host of factors, many of them structural. The stabilization of fuel costs will help boost this fuel-input-heavy sector, but factors such as climate change, continuing disputes in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) will continue to diminish the fishing-by-capture sector.

"Aquaculture must remain a priority of this administration, for food supply and for the future of our fishing workers, among the poorest in the nation," Salceda said.

"Moving forward, I am optimistic that we will continue to see some momentum when the December report comes out. The more positive outlook for inflation in 2023 should also be a boost to consumer spending," concluded Salceda.