Marcos signs Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act

MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, September 27, signed Republic Act No. 11962 or the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act which establishes a national employment master plan.

“The law will help us solve the various challenges plaguing our labor sector, such as low quality jobs, skills mismatch, and underemployment, among others. It likewise addresses the need to update the skills of our workers and promote the use of digital technologies, particularly for our micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises or MSMEs,” Marcos said in his speech after the signing ceremonies in Malacañang.

The law, a priority measure of the Marcos administration, creates the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan Inter-Agency Council, which will craft the national master plan for employment generation and recovery.

The master plan will include, among others, action plans for supporting MSMEs, upskilling of workers, employer incentives, youth employment, and the reintegration of overseas Filipino workers.

The council will be chaired by the National Economic and Development Authority chief, co-chaired by the trade and labor secretaries, and will have as members representatives from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, Department of the Interior and Local Government, employers’ organizations, labor groups, and the marginalized sector and informal sectors.

The council is tasked to monitor, review, and evaluate the implementation of the master plan.

The country’s unemployment rate rose to 4.5% in June from 4.3% in May, bringing the total number of jobless Filipinos to 2.3 million, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported in August. – Rappler.com