The Senate Committee on Youth, chaired by Senator Sonny Angara who filed Senate Resolution No. 155, is set to conduct an inquiry on Thursday into the state of youth unemployment and underemployment in the country.

Angara expressed his concern on Wednesday about the difficulty of young Filipinos finding work even though the economy has started to open up once again after two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

While there was a decline in the actual figures over the past two years, Angara said the numbers are still high and could even go back up unless the necessary interventions are introduced to address the issue.

“The Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the entire population, including the youth. It could even be argued that the youth faced greater challenges during the pandemic because of the restrictions imposed on mobility. It was very difficult for them to join the labor force,” Angara said in a statement.

Based on the Labor Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in June 2022, youth employment rate increased to 88.2 percent from 87.9 percent in May 2022.

The survey also reported that underemployed youth decreased to 653,000 in June 2022 from 745,000 in May 2022.

Angara urged the government to utilize the existing laws for the empowerment of the youth.

“There are several laws in place to help the Filipino youth in finding jobs, including RA 10917 or Expanded Special Program for the Employment of Students; RA 10869, which institutionalized the JobStart Philippines program; and RA 11261 or the First Time Jobseekers Program. These laws have done a lot to assist the youth but we want to see what else we can do to address the gaps between education and employment,” he said.

Apart from Senate Resolution No. 155, other matters to be taken up are Senate Bills 180, 675 and 840, which all seek to establish the Young Farmers and Fisherfolk Challenge program. (PNA)