Statement of Senator Joel Villanueva on
the prospects of economic recovery by Q4 2020

The path to economic recovery has two stumbling blocks at the moment: the continuing increase of COVID-19 cases, and the lack of a clear set of policies to help workers adapt to the new normal.

Our government must arrest the increase of COVID-19 cases to boost economic activity. As long as the infection trend is upward, all our efforts to restart the economy will fail miserably.

Workers must have access to retraining or upskilling to be employable in the new normal job market. Aside from ramping up its labor matching efforts, the Department of Labor and Employment should also tap all available resources in our government to complement the needs of our workers in terms of access to knowledge and transfer of technology. Any government assistance that will be extended to businesses must always come with a commitment to retain their workers among their ranks.

To achieve all this, our government must not hesitate to spend on our labor force. We must understand that at this point in time, investing in our workers will make or break our country's economic recovery.