Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 12) — The country’s employment situation may improve in the coming months as businesses get more upbeat about the local economy, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno.
“Tumaas ang kumpiyansa ng mga businessmen,” he said during a virtual briefing on Monday, citing the BSP’s Business Expectations Survey.
[Translation: The confidence level of businessmen increased.]
The central bank survey showed the overall confidence index improved to 17.4% in the first three months of 2021 from 10.6% in the last quarter of 2020. The index level represents the net of the percentage of firms in the survey that gave positive answers, less the percentage of those who answered in the negative.
For the 2021 second quarter, businessmen kept their bullishness, with outlook rising to 42.8% from the previous quarter’s survey result of 37.4%.
The business outlook on the Philippine economy for the next 12 months was more optimistic as the confidence index jumped to 60.5% from the 57.7% recorded in the Q4 2020 survey.
The BSP executive said the favorable sentiment was buoyed by the observations that Filipinos are embracing the “new normal”, news on the COVID-19 vaccine drive, as well as the emergence of new business/marketing strategies.
Diokno said this can be translated to businesses hiring more employees this 2021.
“Ang pagbuti ng business sentiment ay nagpapakita na maraming industriya ang mag-hire ng mga manggagawa sa mga susunod na buwan,” he said.
[Translation: The improvement in business sentiment shows that many industries will hire workers in the coming months.]
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed earlier that 4.2 million Filipinos were jobless in February, which was higher than the 4 million reported in January.
Diokno said Filipinos may find jobs in booming industries like healthcare, construction, and business process outsourcing.
They can also explore job opportunities in government offices, telecommunication and logistics companies.
