Calabarzon employment up 3.2% in first quarter

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported a 3.2 percent growth in employment in the Calabarzon area or Region 4-A, which is home to a number of industrial sites, in the first quarter.

The Calabarzon groups Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

Citing the results of the National Statistics Office’s Labor Force Survey, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said the total employment in Calabarzon grew by 119,000 jobs — or 3.2 percent — as of last April, reinforced by an almost one percentage point (26,000) decline in unemployment.

"The 3.2 percent growth raised the total employment level in the Calabarzon region to 3.856 million in April 2006 from 3.737 million in April 2005," he said.

Brion said the continued job generation in Calabarzon validates the wisdom of dispersing industries and encouraging growth in job-friendly investments in the regions.

"Jobs’ growth in the Calabarzon forms an important part of the effort of President Arroyo to develop the Metro Luzon Super Region composed of Central and Southern Luzon and Metro Manila, and other mega regions of the Philippines," he said.

Brion said earlier NSO surveys indicated that there has been no employment decline since the President transformed the Calabarzon into a new and distinct region in 2002.

With an employment growth rate averaging more than 3.2 percent annually, Brion said Calabarzon’s gainfully employed population may likely approach, if not surpass, the four-million mark within a year or two.

Brion said the current employment level in the region stands at 3.856 million, the second highest nationwide, next to Metro Manila, which had an employed population of 4.132 million as of April 2006.

In 2005, Calabarzon’s employed population reached 3.810 million, or a growth of 3.9 percent year-on-year, compared to 3.665 million in 2004.

In 2004, employment in the region grew by 3.21 percent from 3.551 million in 2003, Brion said.

Meanwhile, the DOLE’s Calabarzon office continues to pursue its thrust of ensuring the provision of "safety nets" through employment facilitation mainly undertaken by the public employment service offices (PESOs).

Cruz said the 176,993 people successfully placed in jobs in industries across the Calabarzon comprised more than two-thirds of the total 227,451 registered job applicants.