Press Release
August 22, 2006

SEN. JINGGOY ESTRADA BARES PLAN TO AMEND
LABOR CODE TO CREATE MORE JOBS

Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada disclosed plans to amend the Labor Code to enhance local business enterprises and generate more jobs in the country to help minimize the migration of Filipino workers to other countries to seek employment.

Estrada, chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, said that he had started consultations with businessmen, labor groups, and other concerned sectors to study a proposal to amend the Labor Code.

Vital changes in the labor law are needed to promote business and create more jobs in the country and provide livelihood to workers in urban centers as well as in the remote provinces, Estrada stressed.

The National Statistics Office reported last January that 2.8 million Filipinos or 8.1 percent of the work force are unemployed which is one of the highest unemployment rates in Asia.

NSO records showed that 48.4 percent of the unemployed citizens have ages ranging from 15 to 24 or mostly from the youth sector.

This proves that most of the new graduates from high school and even college have difficulty finding decent jobs in the country, and as a result most of them intend to work abroad.

There is a saying that the youth is the future of the country, but what future can we expect if the young people are forced to leave the country? Estrada said.

Congress should help improve the business climate to generate more local jobs which will lead to the eventual progress of the Philippines , Estrada said.

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