House Speaker Martin Romualdez – File photo
MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Martin Romualdez welcomed the January 2025 Labor Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which stated that over 2 million jobs had been created in the first month of the year.
The PSA report released on Thursday showed 883,000 new jobs in agriculture and forestry; 850,000 in wholesale and retail trade; 533,000 in accommodation and food service activities; 141,000 in transportation and storage; and 136,000 in administrative and support service activities.
“These figures reflect the effectiveness of our policies in expanding employment opportunities,” Romualdez said in a statement on Saturday.
However, the same PSA report said unemployment had risen from 3.1 percent in December 2024 to 4.3 percent in January 2025.
Likewise, underemployment rose from 10.9 percent to 13.3 percent during the same period.
“Nakikita natin ang pagdami ng trabaho, pero may mga kababayan pa rin tayong naghahanap ng mas magandang oportunidad,” Romualdez said.
(We see the growth in the number of jobs, but there are still those among our fellow countrymen who are seeking better opportunities.)
“Dapat pa nating palakasin ang ating mga programa upang masiguro na ang trabahong nalilikha ay hindi lamang pansamantala, kundi pang-matagalan,” the House speaker added.
(We should strengthen our programs to ensure that the jobs being created are not only temporary but long-term.)
Romualdez then pushed to expand access to financing for small businesses, streamline government processes to attract investments, develop infrastructure and enhance technical-vocational education as measures for further job creation.