Press Release
February 23, 2010

Villar calls on youth to be entrepreneurs

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manny Villar challenged the youth to imbibe the entrepreneurial spirit in anticipation of the upcoming end of classes in which more or less 400,000 new graduates are expected to join the country's labor force.

"Pag-ibayuhin natin ang ating pagiging malikhain at tanggapin nating humihigpit ang kumpetisyon sa halos lahat ng larangan - mapatrabaho man o negosyo, at kailangan nating ibuhos ang ating galing, kasama ang sipag at tiyaga," Villar said.

Villar was prompted to issue the statement due to unemployment and underemployment figures in 2009, which naturally will increase in the following months due to the graduation of hundreds of thousands of students from various fields and institutions.

The unemployed persons reached 2.8 million in 2009 representing an annual unemployment rate of 7.5 percent, with National Capital Region registering the highest unemployment rate of 12.8 percent among the 17 administrative regions.

Half of the estimated 35 million employed persons in 2009 were engaged in services, distributed mostly in the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods. About 35 percent of the employed were engaged in agriculture while the rest (14.5%) worked in the industry sector.

"Dapat ay ikonsidera ng ating mga kabataan, lalo na yung mga bagong graduates, ang pagnenegosyo bilang isa sa kanilang mga career options. Huwag nilang limitahan ang mga sarili nila dahil may iba pa naman talagang pwedeng pagkakitaan nang marangal bukod sa pagiging empleyado," Villar added.

For his part, Villar said that the government should take the lead in providing opportunities and assistance in this undertaking. He vowed to invest heavily on developing a "strong entrepreneurial class" by funneling credit to small and medium-scale enterprises.

"Kailangang paramihin natin ang mga negosyante ng mga isandaang ulit, dahil mas maraming negosyo, mas maraming magiging trabaho. Kung pagnenegosyo din naman ang usapin, sa tingin ko may kakayahan tayo diyan at track record na talagang kaya nating gawin yan," said Villar.

The labor force population comprising either the employed or unemployed reached 37.9 million in 2009, with an annual labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.0 percent. The highest LFPR was recorded in Northern Mindanao at 70.4 percent.

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