THE Philippine government unveiled on Monday its first 10-year labor market development plan, aiming to transform the country’s labor market over the next decade and promote the creation of high-quality jobs.
In a statement, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) Plan 2025-2034 outlines a long-term strategic masterplan for job creation, labor market transformation, and inclusive workforce development over the next decade.
Under the plan, the government aims to bring down the unemployment rate to 3 percent in 2034 from 3.8 percent last year; the underemployment rate to 7 to 9 percent from 13.3 percent; the labor force participation rate to 68.2 percent from 64.4 percent; and the employment rate to 97 percent, from 96.2 percent in 2024.
“So this is actually a big ask and it requires a lot of policy reform,” Rosemarie Edillon, DEPDev undersecretary, told reporters in a press conference in Pasay City yesterday.
New challenges
In DEPDev’s statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan noted that changes in the Philippine labor market, driven by automation, digitalization and emerging technologies, pose new challenges to the economic landscape.
Additionally, long-term pressures like climate change and demographic shifts further impact the economy’s labor market dynamics, he added.
“These evolving trends underscore the urgent need for adaptive policies that foster economic growth and offer essential support to Filipino workers as they navigate these evolving challenges,” Balisacan said.
“With our collective effort, we will create an inclusive, efficient and dynamic labor market environment where Filipinos can access meaningful, quality jobs, enabling them to have a matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay,” he added.
In the panel discussion during yesterday’s launch, World Bank lead economist Gonzalo Varela said generative artificial intelligence (AI) will affect the Philippines as the country is well-positioned in a sector that is quite exposed to AI, particularly the information technology-business process outsourcing sector.
Exposure to AI
Varela said based on World Bank estimates, about 35 to 37 percent of jobs in the Philippines are exposed to AI.
“Within that third of jobs that are exposed, half of those are likely to be enhanced by AI. But the other half is likely to be replaced by AI. AI certainly will be a productivity shock,” Varela said.
“It will be a shock that will increase productivity, will create more opportunities, but will also create a lot of changes,” he added. “And so this strategy, TPB plan, is a very important strategy to think together, how is it that we can take advantage of the technological changes that are going to affect job creation.”
Varela said there are going to be many opportunities coming from AI when it comes to jobs. However, he said the jobs are going to be different, and the firms that create them and the places where the jobs will be created are going to be different.
Equipping workers
“And therefore, we need to think about how to ensure that workers are well-equipped to take advantage of these new technologies,” Varela said.
He added that firms also need help in taking advantage of the new technologies, requiring policies to help connect them to larger companies at the frontier.
“And we also need to ensure that we have ecosystems across the country, so we have places that are creating the opportunities for firms to thrive and for people to actually get good quality jobs,” Varela said.
Meanwhile, the TPB plan also identified 18 legislative measures that aim to advance the vision of creating an inclusive and dynamic labor market environment.
Among these are the Tax Incentives for Employees on a Work From Home/Telecommuting Program, Freelancers’ Protection Act, Amendment of the Maternity Leave Law and the mandatory enrolment of all types of workers in the Social Security System.
