Duterte Signs Employment Recovery Master Plan

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 140 that officially adopts the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) to serve as the country’s master plan for the rebooting and total recovery of the employment situation in the country.

The EO will institutionalize a NERS Task Force that consists of members coming from 20 different agencies. The NERS Task Force will then implement strategies set until 2022 as the government addresses labor matters due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NERS will have a 2021-2022 employment recovery plan that will use the “whole-of-society” approach an anchors on the Updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, and ReCharge.PH. The employment recovery plan will also expand on the “Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan” (jobs, businesses, livelihood) initiative with emphasis on changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as faster adaptation of new technologies develop as the world was still on lockdown

EO 140 also mandates the NERS to draft policies that will encourage employment generation, improved access to employment opportunities, livelihood, training opportunities, wellness, productivity of workers, and the provision of support to existing and emerging businesses that will ensure the preservation of employment.

Department of Trade and Industry will chair the NERS Task Force, with the Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority as co-chairs.

Members of the inter-agency task force include the Departments of Transportation, Tourism, Public Works and Highways, Science and Technology, Social Welfare and Development, Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Interior and Local Government, Information and Communications Technology, Environment and Natural Resources, Education, Finance, and Budget and Management. Included are the Commission on Higher Education, National Security Council (NSC), Office of the Cabinet Secretary, and National Economic and Development Authority. (GFB)