Press Release - Villanueva: Enterprise-based education and training to boost gov't effort to address unemployment

Reacting to the decrease in unemployment rate in February, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva stressed the need for an institutionalized enterprise-based education and training program to boost the government's effort in providing more employment opportunities for Filipinos.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported a decrease in the unemployment rate from 4.5% or 2.15 million in January 2024 to 3.5% or 1.8 million in February 2024, which is lower from the 4.8 % or 2.47 million in February of the previous year. The PSA also reported a decrease in underemployment from 13.9% in January to 12.4% in February 2024.

"We are formulating a comprehensive set of labor policies targeting both the demand and supply sides of the labor market to effectively address the persistent issue of unemployment and underemployment," stated the majority leader.

"Bukod po sa pagsiguro na may trabahong naghihintay sa bawat Pilipino, kailangan rin po nating siguruhin ang kakayahan ng ating mga manggagawa para tugunan ang pangangailangan ng industriya," he added.

Villanueva, the prime mover of the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan or Republic Act No.11962, principally sponsored and authored the Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework Act in the Senate last March 5, 2024. This legislation was highlighted as a priority measure of the Marcos administration during the last Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting.

"We are grateful to the President for recognizing the significance of our proposed game-changing measure and for urging both Houses of Congress to prioritize it," expressed the majority leader.

Senate Bill No. 2587 or the EBET Framework Act, aims to bridge the gap between the rapidly evolving needs of industries and the requisite skills of employees.

"This measure is the key to solving the problem of unending job-skills mismatch, which is a factor in the volatility of our unemployment and underemployment rates. Institutionalizing the EBET will address the inability of education to catch up with evolving technology and digitalization of industries in the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0," Villanueva said.

Enterprise-based training