SENATE Majority Leader Joel Villanueva is looking forward to mustering bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress for the timely enactment of the enabling legislation to establish the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan.
As filed, the Senate version of the proposed Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act is meant “to provide an employment policy that is comprehensive, coherent, and future-oriented, to be able to address the dynamic changes in the labor market.” He recalled that in December 2022, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent from the 5.3 percent in August 2022, but it climbed anew, however, in January 2023 at 4.8 percent after the holiday season. The underemployment rate has remained high from 13.8 percent in 2019 to 14.1 percent as of January 2023, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority .
Expecting that the masterplan shall be formulated by an Inter-Agency Council chaired by the National Economic and Development Authority, with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Labor and Employment as co-chairpersons, the senator expects that the conferees shall direct all government agencies to come up with integrated and coordinated solutions for a range of matters such as:Tackling the nuanced needs of particular sectors—including the marginalized and...