MANILA — The Build, Build, Build program of the Duterte administration has generated over 600,000 jobs as of April 2018, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Wednesday.
In a press briefing in Malacañang, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III noted that they recorded a total of 625,000 net employment during the said period.
“Our data would show that the economy generated a net employment of 625,000 last April or about 40.896 million employed persons compared to the 40.271 million employed for the same period last year,” Bello said.
Most of the jobs created were in the construction sector.
“The single biggest contributor to this positive net employment generation is the construction sector. This sector registered a net employment of 468,000 during the same period,” Bello said.
He added that employment opportunities are not only available during the construction of infrastructure project but also after the projects, such as railways, airports, roads and bridges, have been erected.
“Once the projects are built, there will be more jobs that will be created since companies would be putting up businesses in the buildings and structures that will be erected under BBB programs,” DOLE chief said.
He explained that the government does not only provide jobs but decent jobs to Filipinos, by putting in place a number of interventions targeted at poor workers engaged in precarious or vulnerable work.
“This includes the enhancement of their access to educational and training opportunities that will allow them to develop and acquire medium-to-high level skills required in more complex, higher paying, and in-demands jobs,” Bello said.
“We are also keen on providing a more efficient and easier access to vital labor market information and employment opportunities to jobseekers across industries,” he added.
At the same time, Bello said they are also conducting studies to encourage part-time work or even reduced work-time, especially for low-paying jobs.
“This is suited to school dropouts and even graduates of senior high school. This will give ample time for study and enable them to graduate to higher-paying jobs later on,” he added.
Under the “Bulid, Build, Build” program, the government is set to construct roads, bridges, airport, railways among others, with a total budget of PHP8 trillion, from 2017 to 2022. (Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
