Foundation for Economic Freedom | February 3, 2021
EVENT
2021 PVML: “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS: POLICY REFORMS AND ACTIONS FOR THE POST-PANDEMIC PERIOD”
About the Lecture
The Paderanga-Varela Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture that started in 2016 in celebration of the Foundation for Economic Freedom’s (FEF) 20th anniversary and to honor its late co-founders – former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga, Jr. and former Department of Education Undersecretary Francisco Varela. The Lecture aims to engage and educate main stakeholders on some of the key issues facing our country today.
The COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected the Philippine economy. After 29 years, the country is officially in a recession with Q2 2020 GDP declining at 16.5%, so far the worst among its peers in the ASEAN. The Trade Department has estimated that almost 26% of the businesses in the country have closed. Unemployment is also at all-time high at 17.7% in April 2020, accounting to 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos.
As early as the mid-March 2020, FEF has started discussions on action plans and policy reforms on what the government can do in a post-pandemic scenario which it believes is necessary to maximize the response of the private sector in reviving business activity, increasing investments, and creating jobs.
For the 2021 Lecture, FEF Fellows will be presenting FEF’s policy reform proposals for the agriculture sector and labor sector for a post-pandemic economy. Read the event primer.