The return of face-to-face classes in schools and more open travel policies for tourists would boost the country's gross domestic product.
Rep. Elizaldy S. Co attributed the 7.6 percent third quarter growth of the gross domestic product to the reopening of face-to-face classes and more open travel policies.
There are about 25 million students from K-to-12 and 900,000 Department of Education (DepEd) personnel. In addition, there are approximately 7 million in the higher education and technical education sectors, for a total of 32 million.
Even if there are only about 80 percent of that return to face-to-face classes, that would still be about 26 million which is a big chunk of the country’s population. Multiplying that population by their daily economic activity and the result is that there would be solid GDP growth.
“I dare say, full reopening of the education sector plus more tourists and more OFWs deployed abroad, could send GDP growth up to 8 percent or higher.” Co said.
Reopening our economy means more jobs and income for Filipinos and businesses across the country. GDP growth in the previous quarter is compelling evidence.
Moreover, there should be further improvement in the employment figures. Cooperatives are effective job creators, so having more of them is one way to boost employment figures.
Based on the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), cooperatives employed around 364,700 people by 2020.
“Isipin na lamang natin kung mas marami pang kooperatiba ang maitatatag lalo na sa mga probinsya, tiyak na mas marami pang trabaho ang malilikha.” Co said.
Each cooperative is a business, and businesses employ people, which increases economic activity in a specific area.
“Halimbawa, kung madadagdagan lang sana ang workers cooperative ng mga nananahi ng damit (garments sector), mas darami pa ang mabibigyan nila ng trabaho at makakapag-demand pa sila ng mas matinong presyo sa tuwing nakikipag-transaksyon sila sa mga nangangailangan ng kanilang produkto. Sa ganyang paraan nakakalikha ng trabaho ang mga kooperatiba.” Co cited an example.
Another solution is to encourage the establishment of more business process outsourcing (BPOs) and assist in attracting more BPOs to our country because the US dollar is particularly strong and will remain so in the medium term. A strong US dollar means more tourism dollars and higher remittances from overseas workers.
“The high-interest rates worldwide and the strength of the US dollar will persist for several years, so we must seize the opportunities these two economic factors bring.” Co concluded.
Tags: #Face-to-face, #Travel, #GDP, #BPO