President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s overseas trips are one of the main drivers of the increasing employment rate in the country, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said.

ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said this amid the increasing local employment rate. Recent data showed that the Philippines' employment rate grew by 95.5 percent in June this year.

In an interview with State-run PTV4, Ortiz-Luis said the opening of the economy following the Covid-19 pandemic was another contributor to job generation in the country.

“Unang-una talaga tuloy-tuloy yung pag-alis natin doon sa pandemic era at tuloy-tuloy ang pag-hire (First of all, we are continuously moving away from the pandemic era at we're continuously hiring people)," he said.

"Ang gobyerno naman tuloy-tuloy ang pag-encourage ng investment, at maraming biyahe ni Presidente. Hindi naman inaasahan na marami talagang iuuwing investors at yun ay tuloy-tuloy (The government also continuously seeks investments and the President goes abroad a lot. We we're not expecting that he would really attract many investors),” he added.

According to Ortiz-Luis, who is also the president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport), the Philippine Chamber of Commerce (and Industry) has weekly meetings with foreign business personalities who are looking for local partners.

"Naghahanap ng ka-partner at kung ang mapapasukan nilang negosyo dahil sa mga biyahe ni Presidente (They are looking for partners and asking if they have a spot here because of the President's trips)," he said.

Among the industries that generated more jobs are construction, agriculture, administrative and food services, and public administration and defense on the government side, the ECOP head said.

To help the government in increasing further the country's labor force, Ortiz-Luis said the ECOP has been carrying out an advocacy campaign and forged an agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), manufacturers, business process outsourcing (BPO), and tourism industry to create 1 million jobs.

He added that with the gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 5.3 percent in the first half of 2023, the government has to boost its spending to meet its GDP growth target this year.

The Marcos government said it would accelerate spending in the coming quarters to recover the momentum following the 4.3 percent economic expansion of the country's economy in the second quarter of this year.

Last week, the DOLE said that Marcos' foreign trips have brought into the country some 75,000 jobs in the power and renewable energy sector alone.