Statement of Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva on the unemployment rate for November 2023
January 11, 2024

We laud the decline of our unemployment rate to 3.6% last November 2023 from 4.2% in October, the lowest unemployment rate since 2005. The continuous improvement in our unemployment rate is a clear indication that our economy, particularly our labor sector, has fully recovered and that the policies being implemented are working. But our job's not done yet.

As our labor market continues to improve and with more job opportunities from foreign investors expected to materialize this year, we need to see a sustained effort to keep our unemployment numbers low and not only during the holiday season. This is why it is very important that we fast track the completion of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan (TPB) Act, as instructed by no less than President Bongbong Marcos. The full implementation of the TPB Act, a measure which we principally sponsored and authored, will ensure that we will have a comprehensive and synergized employment plan that is aligned with our incentive system giving priority to education and training and employment generation. Quality laws, like the TPB, are the product of the hard work of the Senate as an institution in crafting laws that would benefit the people.