A million new jobs.

This is the target of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and their affiliated business organizations for 2024.

According to ECOP, this is part of their commitment to support the Marcos administration.

In an interview, ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said that the private sector-led employment-generation initiative called “Project Jobs” is going to take effect as they will work closely with the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PhilExport) and the broader Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Likewise Ortiz-Luis said that their allied business groups, despite having numbers by the hundreds of companies under their banner, can only provide direct employment to about 16 percent of the country’s labor force. That only includes the formal sector.

Ortiz-Luis, who also sits as president of PhilExport and is a director of PCCI, said that stakeholders should create new proposals that would generate more livelihood opportunities for more Filipinos.

They should likewise preserve the jobs of those who are already employed.

He said there is a need to further reassure investors that policies towards investment are not fickle and that legitimate contracts are always honored in the Philippines.