Marcos confident Philippines won’t experience recession

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. expressed confidence that the Philippines would not experience recession following the reported decrease on the number of unemployed Filipinos in the country.

Marcos underscored that his administration has been prioritizing the generation of jobs for Filipinos since the beginning of his leadership.

“Ang balita na tumaas ang inflation rate na hanggang eight percent last November, mayroon naman kasabay na mas magandang balita na bumaba ang unemployment rate sa four and a half percent mula sa five percent,” Marcos said in a video message.

(There's a better news than the high inflation rate in November because the unemployment rate decreases from 5% to 4.5%.)

“Kaya’t kahit papaano ay malakas ang loob natin na hindi tayo magkakaroon ng recession dito sa Pilipinas dahil masyadong mababa ang unemployment rate at kung maaalala ninyo sa pagsimula namin dito sa administrasyong ito ay pinag-usapan na namin ay trabaho talaga ang aming uunahin. Kaya’t ‘yan ang nakikita ngayon natin na nangyayari. Ipagpatuloy lang natin ‘yan,” he added.

(Because of that, I’m confident that recession will not happen in the Philippines because the unemployment rate is very low and if you remember, this administration has been prioritizing the creation of jobs since the beginning. We will continue that.)

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has disclosed that the number of unemployed Filipinos slightly decreased to 2.24 million in October. This was lower than the 2.50 million unemployed individuals recorded in September.

The October unemployment rate stood at 4.5% from 5% in September and 7.4% in October 2021. According to the PSA, this was the lowest since the similar 4.5% print seen in pre-pandemic October 2019.

Despite the decline in jobless individuals, the number of employed Filipinos saw a drop to 47.11 million during the month from 47.58 million in September but higher than the 43.82 million employed in October 2021.

Marcos, meanwhile, guaranteed that the government is implementing measures “to cushion the impact of high prices of basic goods on ordinary Filipinos.”

“Gumagawa kami ng marami pang ibang paraan para mas maging magaan sa bulsa ng ating mga kababayan itong napakabilis na pagtaas ng presyo ng kung anu-anong bilihin,” Marcos said.

(We are enforcing measures that will ease the burden of Filipinos from the high prices of goods and commodities.)

Inflation surged to 8.0% in November, the fastest since November 2009’s 9.1% and surpassing the 14-year high of 7.7% recorded in October, the PSA said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News