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Arroyo govt failed to create the millions of new jobs it promised


The Arroyo administration was unable to create the jobs it promised to generate during the past five years, a report made by the Philippines’ socioeconomic body said. Unemployment “remains high and meeting job creation targets continue to be a challenge," the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in its updated Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2010. Although the government created 3.5 million jobs from 2004 to 2008, these jobs “represent a backlog of the 3.5 million jobs, given a target of at least 1.4 million employment created per year," the document added. In July, the Philippines’ unemployment rate was at 7.6 percent, representing 2.9 million Filipinos 15 years old and above who intend to secure employment but are unable to do so. For last year, the economy slowed and, as a result, was only able to create 530,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was at 7.4 percent. In 2006, the country’s jobless rate stood at eight percent, lower than 2007’s 7.3 percent. In turn, the government’s failure to create the millions of job it promised led to increased poverty during the years 2004 to 2006. Poverty incidence rose by 2.5 percentage points to 26.9 percent in 2006 from 24.4 percent in 2003. Similarly, the number of poor Filipinos increased from 23.8 million in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV

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