THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC will have long-term effects on Philippine employment even after the economy rebounds, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

Despite recent improvements in the jobs situation, ADB Senior Economist James P. Villafuerte said the unemployment rate is still above the long-term trend, leading many Filipinos to shift to informal and precarious work.

Unemployment, he said, has disproportionately affected young people, women, and low-skilled workers.

“Although the unemployment rate has eased since 2020, millions of workers are still jobless and working fewer hours and taking part-time jobs,” he said at an online event on Thursday.

Preliminary data show that unemployment eased to 6.5% in November compared with 7.4% a month earlier. In absolute terms, there were 3.159 million unemployed Filipinos in November, down from 3.504 million in October.   

This was the lowest jobless rate since the government started releasing data monthly in 2021. Including the quarterly releases, the November figure was the lowest since the 5.3% logged in January 2020.

The unemployment rate hit a record high of 17.6% in April 2020, when the government implemented the strictest lockdown to contain the pandemic.

The International Labour Organization projects Philippine unemployment to reach 1.1 million in 2022, or 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels. The organization said the impact of the pandemic on jobs could be even bigger after a large-scale exit from the labor force, which does not count as unemployment.

Although most sectors saw job losses, the shift to remote work meant that information technology, business, and professional services jobs were more resilient.

“This change in employment composition is actually expected to persist in the medium and long term. Many companies in the Philippines have been rapidly adopting technology in their business models,” Mr. Villafuerte said.

However, the digital shift will require higher value-added skills that could increase the mismatch between expertise needed by employers and the skills of displaced workers.

“The longer these displaced workers and new labor market entrants are unable to find a job, the more likely that they will become less employable because of lost skills,” Mr. Villafuerte said.

The ADB’s COVID-19 Country Assessment Report – Southeast Asia suggested the government strengthen labor market programs to help workers and enterprises transition to higher value skills.

Policy priorities include enterprise-led training reforms that include industry apprenticeships, unemployment insurance that would ensure income stability, and support for small businesses.

Findings from the ADB report are still preliminary until the official release in mid-March.

The ADB expects Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 6% this year, lower than the government’s 7-9% goal.

But this growth is sensitive to the pandemic and health policy interventions.

“Almost two years after the pandemic started, Southeast Asia is recovering slowly. However, the extent of recovery remains tentative, uneven, volatile, and sensitive to the path of the pandemic,” Mr. Villafuerte said.

Due to the effects of more COVID-19 variants, Philippine GDP could grow by 0.4 percentage points lower than ADB anticipated. But with increased health spending, the economy could expand by 1.1 percentage points higher.

“Investment in health seems to be one of the policy levers that the region could use to actually reinvigorate growth.”

ADB expects Philippine GDP to have grown by 5.1% in 2021. This would reverse the record 9.6% contraction in 2020, but is still lower than the pre-pandemic 6.1% expansion in 2019.

The statistics agency is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2021 GDP data on Jan. 27.  — Jenina P. Ibañez

THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) plans to prioritize its campaign against tax evasion and improve voluntary compliance as it seeks to boost revenue collections this year.

The BIR on Thursday said its enforcement and advocacy office plans to “emphasize the criminal nature of tax evasion, in order to have a maximum deterrent effect on taxpayers, thereby enhancing voluntary compliance and promoting public confidence in the tax system.”

The BIR targets to collect P2.435 trillion in revenues, 17% higher than last year’s P2.081 trillion goal.

Total BIR revenue collection in the 11 months to November stood at P1.9 trillion, up 7.17% from last year’s figure.

BIR said that it plans to simplify taxpayer compliance by identifying unregistered businesses through the use of third-party information. The bureau will also intensify its audit and investigation program.

Through this, it aims to collect at least 3% of its total revenue goal from withholding tax on compensation income, tax remittance advice, withholding tax of local governments, special allotment release orders, and one-time transactions.

On the tax compliance monitoring front, BIR plans to give taxpayers additional venues to conduct one-time transactions, as well as use a taxpayer registration database to improve service delivery.

The BIR said it aims to speed up handling complaints and develop a platform for digital tax-filing that would provide a single source of taxpayer information.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has ordered all agencies attached to the Finance department to implement digital transformation programs.

About 94% of tax returns were filed electronically in 2020, from 43% in 2015.

Meanwhile, the BIR wants to improve its own budget management and make its workplace more digital by using collaborative tools.

The bureau also plans to improve its integrity management program.

“Promote integrity, honesty and transparency throughout the revenue service by expediting preliminary investigations on complains/reports against bureau personnel,” it said. “Act on administrative cases filed against erring revenue officials and employees.” — J.P.Ibañez