Philippines: Post-COVID-19 Business and Employment Recovery Program - Subprogram 1

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unprecedented and potentially long-term impact on the labor market in the Philippines. Although the unemployment rate has eased since peaking in April 2020, the labor market recovery remains uneven and emerging new jobs appear to be of lower quality. In response, on 1 May 2021, the government launched the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS), 20212022 to improve access to employment, livelihood, and training opportunities and to support existing and emerging businesses to create sustainable employment opportunities in light of the pandemic-induced job losses. The program will help the government implement the NERS and aims to achieve key targets (highlighted in the box). The program adopts a programmatic approach using policy-based loans for two subprograms to support sustainable business and labor market recovery in the post-pandemic era. Subprogram 1 establishes the foundation of the program through amendments to key legislation and pilot initiatives. Subprogram 2 will focus on the implementation and expansion of these reforms, so that they form a permanent part of the national job creation framework.