Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva on Thursday, January 11 welcomed the reported decline in the country’s unemployment rate saying it is a positive indication that the Philippine economy has fully recovered. 

“We laud the decline of our unemployment rate to 3.6 percent last November 2023 from 4.2 percent in October, the lowest unemployment rate since 2005,” Villanueva said referring to the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report. 

“The continuous improvement in our unemployment rate is a clear indication that our economy, particularly our labor sector, has fully recovered and that the policies being implemented are working. But our job’s not done yet,” he stressed.

As the country’s labor market continues to improve and with more job opportunities from foreign investors expected to materialize this year, Villanueva said there is a need to sustain efforts to keep the number of unemployed low, not only during the holiday season.

Thus, Villanueva said, it is very important to fast track the completion of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan (TPB) Act, “as instructed by no less than President Marcos.”

“The full implementation of the TPB Act, a measure which we principally sponsored and authored, will ensure that we will have a comprehensive and synergized employment plan that is aligned with our incentive system giving priority to education and training and employment generation,” he said.

“Quality laws, like the TPB, are the product of the hard work of the Senate as an institution in crafting laws that would benefit the people,” he added.