The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that the rising employment rate in the country would help cushion the impact of higher inflation on the purchasing power of Filipinos.

In a statement, NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan stressed the immediate need to address inflation, while affirming that the Marcos administration is stepping up its efforts to manage the increasing prices of key commodities.

“The Marcos Administration is accelerating its efforts to manage price increases of basic commodities such as rice in light of the El Niño phenomenon we are experiencing and the continuing upward price pressure from the global rice market,” Balisacan said on Sunday, Feb. 18.

But despite high inflation, Balisacan noted that the local labor market was demonstrating positive signs.

He said that the unemployment rate in the country hit a historic low of 3.1 percent last December, while the underemployment rate improved to 11.9 percent from its 12.6 percent figure a year before.

He said the better employment numbers were driven by the govenrment’s “significant strides" in attracting substantial foreign direct investments, which will create higher-quality jobs, ultimately elevating the incomes and purchasing power of Filipinos.

The NEDA chief issued the statement in response to a recent survey conducted by the OCTA Research group, revealing that three out of four Filipinos were dissatisfied with the government's measures to address the escalating prices of basic commodities.

Despite the recent slowdown in consumer prices, a staggering 75 percent of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the government's performance in managing inflation, while only six percent indicated satisfaction, and 19 percent remained undecided.

“We recognize the significance and urgency of addressing the issues and challenges that have been highlighted by the survey results, particularly on inflation and food security, as well as on job creation and poverty reduction,” Balisacan said.

The January inflation rate averaged at 2.8 percent, marking the lowest figure since October 2020 and a substantial deceleration from the high of 8.7 percent recorded in January of the previous year.

“While external factors and domestic policy coordination challenges resulted in higher inflation in early 2023, both supply- and demand-side interventions worked to bring this down to 2.8 percent by January 2024, the lowest since October 2020,” Balisacan said.

He also said that when President Marcos began his term, the Philippine economy was still recovering from the record 9.5-percent contraction at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“The contraction set us back by about three years, with per capita gross national income (GNI) returning to its pre-pandemic level by the second half of 2023,” Balisacan said.

Per capita GNI refers to the average amount of money earned by each Filipino, taking into account the total income generated by the country and dividing it by the population.

However, Balisacan said the country recovered and has “indeed outshone our Asian peers as we posted a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.6 percent in 2023, one of the fastest in the region.”

“The Cabinet has taken to heart the President's directives by ensuring that the necessary policies are in place: we are facilitating massive investments in physical and human capital to create better jobs and improve our economy's competitiveness while deploying the entire arsenal of policy tools to make food available, accessible, and affordable to the Filipino people,” he concluded.