Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva has urged the government to step up efforts to reskill and upskill Filipinos to give them wider employment opportunities.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva (Senate PRIB Photo)

During the briefing of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) for the proposed 2024 P5.768-trillion national budget, Villanueva welcomed the P9.18-billion allocation for programs on "increasing employability" lodged in the new appropriations.

This includes the Government Internship Program, Special Program for Students, Jobstart Philippines, Supporting Innovation in the Philippine Technical and Vocational Education and Training System, Special Training for Employment Program, Training for Work Scholarship Program and Tulong Trabaho Scholarship Program.

According to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), there is a big mismatch between what the educational institutions are producing and the employment opportunities from fast-evolving sectors associated with digital technology and green economy.

NEDA emphasized the need to ensure the employability of workers especially in creating opportunities for high quality jobs.

"This is exactly why we need a reskilling and upskilling revolution to have a competitive and resilient workforce for the 4th Industrial Revolution so that our people will have a better shot at sustainable and quality employment," Villanueva said.

Upskilling involves adding or scaling up one's skills, while reskilling has to do with retraining one in a new area.

Villanueva said the proposed interventions for upskilling and reskilling would go through thorough scrutiny during the deliberation of the budget of departments.

"We want to know the specific training or courses in the programs, the number of beneficiaries and the extent to which these programs will help achieve the target 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent employment rate in 2024," he added.

Villanueva pointed out that the volatility of the unemployment rate is affected by notorious seasonal jobs.

“Our unemployment rate is usually low during peak seasons like Christmas season then unemployment increases after. This is evident in the agriculture and tourism sectors,” he said.

The Majority Leader further noted that there is a significant decrease in the unemployment rate from 5.3 percent in August 2022 to 4.3 percent in December 2022.

Based on the 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, unemployment rate in Thailand is at 1 percent, 2.1 percent in Singapore, 2.4 percent in Vietnam and 3.6 percent in Malaysia.

“Compared to our ASEAN counterparts, we are lagging behind when it comes to employability and creating quality jobs which is why we need to implement a National Employment Masterplan to identify the needs of the labor sector,” he said.

Senate Bill No. 2035, or the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan Act, creates a comprehensive employment masterplan, which will synergize the government's efforts in addressing the country's employment challenges - including the generation of quality jobs and opportunities for all, as well as the issue of job-skills mismatch.

The bill was passed on third reading in the Senate last May 2023.