While praising the decline in the unemployment rate, Sen. Bong Go called on eligible Filipinos to get vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19 to help hasten the country’s economic recovery. Higher vaccination rates resulted to more relaxed health protocols, in effect, opening more sectors of the domestic economy and bringing in more economic opportunities.
“I am happy na bumababa na po ang bilang ng mga nawalan ng trabaho,” Go said after personally providing aid to residents in Malvar, Batangas recently.
The Philippine Statistics Authority on 7 December said the country’s unemployment rate in October dropped to 4.5 percent from 5 percent in September.
In actual figures, the 3.5 million unemployed Filipinos in 2021 went down to 2.24 million in October this year.
The data on jobs from October 2022 also showed the country’s unemployment rate was at its lowest since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Go has been advocating for an intensified vaccination campaign and provision of booster shots to eligible Filipinos to bolster efforts to fully reopen the economy and create more opportunities for the people.
“Marami pong bakuna sa gobyerno, ‘yung iba nga po nag-e-expire na. Kung qualified na po kayo, magpa-booster na po kayo,” he said.
He expressed optimism the economy will keep growing, as the Philippines is the third-fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia, behind Malaysia and Vietnam.