When it rains, it pours.
Coming on the heels of a report from the National Statistical Coordination Board that poverty alleviation in the country remains a pipe dream is an observation—from a government think tank no less—that job-creation facilitation programs are not enough to prop up employment in the Philippines. In a quarterly report, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said rapid and constructive productivity improvements in job-creating sectors should be pursued. It noted that whenever the challenge of a poor track record in reducing unemployment is raised, the government cites job-creation programs. These creators include the Special Program for the Employment of Students, which provides short-term employment to poor but deserving students and out-of-school youth, and the Community-Based Employment Program that gives short-term employment for workers who are in distress and displaced by calamities and natural disasters.
