READING the morning papers, I gathered that the country’s unemployment rate rose by 6% in May this year, this was according to reports from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Further, it stated that from 2.76 million in April, the number of unemployed people swelled to 2.93 million. In May 2021, there were 3.74 million unemployed individuals. By May 2022, 14.5% or 6.67 million of the employed population are underemployed, the PSA report noted.
Job creation
In an interview before the May 9 elections, Marcos Jr. said that to accelerate economic recovery, he will generate more jobs with a focus on the business, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure industries consistent with the “Build, Build, Build” program of the Duterte government which he said was successful.
He further said that the “critical element” in economic recovery is bringing back Filipinos to work, highlighting one of his top priorities––MSMEs––as they can quickly create work for Filipinos and help them feed their families. In addition, he will propose a retraining program for returning OFWs to equip them with skills for the international labor market. I am hopeful, that the current president who is concurrently the top honcho of the Agriculture department, will make true to his promise.
But going back to how unemployment and underemployment trends are going, perhaps, it would be safe to say that getting other sources of income can go a long way for everyone. While it may not solve the country’s un/underemployment issues, still, it is an excellent option to combat a life without a job or life with a job that doesn’t pay much.
Pursuit for money and infinite autonomy
Increasingly, freelancing has become the option that people make in order to swerve from the 8-to-5 routine of government/private office life.
People, whatever area of work they choose, have picked this type of employment model because it offers, or potentially offers, autonomy – the independence to work anytime and anywhere.
Certainly, this is not the end for people who lead the salaried life. Full-time, company-based work is still the norm for employment in many countries, most especially in the Philippines, and of course, here in Dumaguete.
However, with the rise of telecommuting and automation and the endless opportunities of crowdsourcing, more and more business organizations have begun running, and even growing, their businesses with noticeably less workers.
Such development does not necessarily mean an increase in unemployment. While it may indicate lesser number of “fix salary” people, it actually means that there will be more outworkers/service providers which means more people will have different sources of income.
Work in the near future
The increase of freelance work is a key evident measure of the future of work, particularly in terms of collaboration practices. Freelance workers are already facilitating the co-management of projects. Soon enough, they will also be producing, communicating, and collaborating with firms, customers, and with society at large. In reality, they are already on this type of hybrid work arrangements.
The digital revolution has created alternative working models and employment relationships which have become more ordinary with each passing day.
With escalating unemployment rates and the upsurge in workforce competition, choosing a freelance career path is the more viable option for people. Although freelance work is not a panacea for job loss, it is the right path to go when one is not happy with one’s revenue source, or worse, when one does not have a definite source of income.
Big help for Dumaguetnon job-seekers
Here in our city, we are a little bit lucky because the Dumaguete Public Employment Services Office (PESO) has established “help desks” in the barangays to gather unemployment data and facilitate the needs of local jobseekers. PESO-Dumaguete manager Ma. Socorro Mira said this is to particularly help the workers who were displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Currently, I heard that there are 18 employment coordinators assigned in clustered barangays, but I also heard that the city plans to establish a help desk in all 30 villages within the province’s capital.
“I have requested the city to put up employment help desks in the barangays to do the profiling of the unemployed, age groups, sectors, and all other data to give us a clear picture of the employment scenario here,” Mira said.
The barangay employment coordinators will be a big help to the PESO not only for data collection but also for the facilitation of those seeking to be hired, such as during job fairs, Mira added.
The PESO office is also closely coordinating with the employers and establishments to get the total number of workers in the city. With this development, the office can now hold a job fair or special recruitment activities in a barangay now that the PESO help desks are in place as they will be the office’ extension in facilitating job-search of the unemployed.
