A lawmaker on Thursday said the Duterte administration should issue a directive to government agencies with high underutilization rates to complete their procurement plans to stimulate job growth.

House Ways and Means Committee chair Joey Salceda made the recommendation after the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that unemployment soared to 8.9 percent in September, which yielded 4.25 million jobless Filipinos.

Salceda noted that while the overall trend from April to the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) shows that the aggregate job situation has begun to solidify, the unemployment situation remains concerning as improving vaccination rates “appear to have done little” to reduce unemployment.

Salceda suggested that public procurement could focus on human resource (HR) personnel, highlighting that compulsory social security was a job growth driver for September with 118,000 jobs and will remain so if HR procurement can be completed over the course of the next months prior to the election ban.

He said the government could also reduce the risk of lockdowns and community transmission by considering vaccine mandates for employees and tenants of highly exposed places, such as public markets and other community spaces.

Another low hanging fruit for the state to boost job creation, he said, is to complete the 2021 infrastructure program by issuing directives to district engineering offices.

He said the government could assist growing sectors such as the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in recruiting employees by directing local public employment and services offices and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to craft agreements and collaborate with such sectors.

“These low-hanging fruits can all be picked by mere executive action,” he said.

He said that according to the LFS, wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector grew by 353,000 employed persons, signifying that the increased reopening of the economy is helping make this highly face-to-face sector recover.

He explained that although unemployed persons increased by around 370,000, this is largely due to seasonal effects in agriculture, which lost around 862,000 jobs.

“At this stage, most rice crops for the season have already been planted and harvest season is still some months away. These months are also called ‘tiempo muerto’ in sugar-producing areas; I expect agricultural jobs to have recovered last month and this month, which should be reflected in the next LFS,” he said.

He, however, pointed out that the job decline in manufacturing is mildly concerning, as the sector lost 343,000 jobs month-on-month when Christmas season manufacturing should begin to pick up.

“I expect the recovery in retail trade to eventually pull up manufacturing once stocks begin to be sold out,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the youth labor force participation rate (LFPR) dropped to 35.8 percent in September 2021 from 37.8 percent in August 2021.

He said the youth employment rate was down to 82.3 percent in September 2021, from 84.0 percent in August 2021.

“I attribute this to the resumption of classes, as evidenced by the increase of jobs in the education sector (by 115,000 jobs),” he said. (PNA)