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Laguna Rep. Len Alonte has urged government agencies to hire more employees as underemployment falls to single-digit levels.

Data from the National Economic Development Authority showed the underemployment rate – the proportion of those already employed but still wanting more work – fell to its lowest rate in all July rounds of the survey at 13.9 percent, from 2018’s 17.2 percent. This translates to a reduction of over a million underemployed workers in July 2019.

Alonte said underemployment may have decreased because of the administration’s massive infrastructure spending nationwide.

“Those jobs figures can also get a boost when all the government agencies fill up all the vacant positions and hire all the additional personnel authorized in the 2019 budget. The people need more jobs and government must hire more and faster,” she said.

The July round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority also showed that employment growth rate increased by 5.7 percent in July 2019, from 1.2 percent in July 2018.

This translates to 2.3 million additional employment, almost five times the 479,000 employment generated in the same period last year.