MANILA — The year 2009 began, ended and paved the way to 2010 with the festering problem of joblessness for millions of Filipinos. The global financial crisis only revealed the stark reality of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s inherently flawed job-generation strategies. The Arroyo regime admitted that it fell short of its target to generate 3.5 million jobs from 2004 to 2008. In 2009, they cheered at the data that more new jobs— including low-quality, non-wage earning jobs such as unpaid family work, own-account, and part-time work— were generated than lost as of October, but they admitted that “the additional jobs generated were lower than the number of people that have just entered the labor force.” Continue reading
