The next few months will be a critical test if the country has been efficient and effective in building up its resilience and recovery, with a new administration coming in, the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the ongoing pandemic.
This was according to Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., who also expressed concern over why the resurgence of manufacturing is not trickling down to job creation.
This as Ortiz-Luis announced the One Million Jobs project of the government and private sector has achieved last month the project’s goal of creating a million jobs.
With the elections less than three weeks away, Ortiz-Luis noted “much is at stake especially with the emerging challenges and the fragile recovery track that we are traversing “ even as he warned “we will be left picking up the pieces if we choose wrongly.”
“In the meantime, we have businesses to revive and sustain; employees to provide salaries to and an economy to nourish to progress. In contrast to the political ecosystem, we are all in for the long haul,” Ortiz-Luis said the Philexport general membership meeting yesterday.
Ortiz-Luis also expressed cautious optimism until the Russia-Ukraine conflict is resolved despite the good performance of manufacturing and exports.
Manufacturing surged 122 percent in February, the highest level in five months and marked the 11th straight month that the manufacturing output performed positively.
Manufacturing growth translated to improving export performance which reached its fastest pace in six months in February due to stronger demand. Merchandise exports climbed 15 percent year-on-year to $6.159 billion. It picked up from the revised 9 percent growth in the previous month and a turnaround from the 1.4 percent decline in February last year.
The value was the highest level in two months or since the $6.279 billion
in December last year.
“But whether such performance created new, better and/or more jobs should be a subject of more detailed analysis. What we know so far from government reports is that also as of February, more than three million Filipinos are still jobless, with the unemployment rate remaining at 6.4 percent,” Ortiz-Luis said.
That level s unchanged from January but much improved than the 8.8 percent record in February last year.
“While the export and manufacturing pre-pandemic performance has generally been positive though not as robust as we wanted, we are puzzled why this progress has not trickled down. Economic data have proven the manufacturing sector is a big generator of jobs and livelihood, thereby able to reduce poverty,” Ortiz-Luis added.
To this, Ortiz-Luis expressed support to sustaining the One Million Jobs project.
