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TO SUSTAIN progress and achieve genuine inclusive growth, we need to support the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which represent the majority of our enterprises and comprise the largest bulk of our workforce.
According to a survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority, of the 900,914 total establishments in the Philippines three years ago, 99.5 percent or 896,839 were MSMEs, while the remaining 0.5 percent or 4,075 were large enterprises.
In the same study, MSMEs were found to have generated a total of 4,784,870 jobs in 2015 compared to the 2,981,819 for the large enterprises — indicating that MSMEs contributed almost 61.6 percent of the total jobs generated by all types of business establishments that year. Of this percentage, 29.4 percent or 2,285,634 jobs were generated by micro enterprises, 25.3 percent or 1,968,452 by small enterprises, and 6.8 percent or 530,784 by medium enterprises. Clearly, MSMEs are crucial partners of the government in alleviating poverty.
The PSA also noted that, as of January 2017, out of the 42.1 million persons who were in the labor force, employment rate was estimated at 93.4 percent; however, 16.3 percent or 6,398,000 Filipinos were underemployed and 6.6 percent or 2,761,000 Filipinos remain unemployed. MSMEs can help.
But compared to larger enterprises, MSMEs are more susceptible to changes in our economy, which would also affect their capability to employ and expand. Government interventions are thus needed such as providing technical assistance, technology transfer, knowledge exchange, skills training, and other capacity-building activities, that will further advance the proficiency of our MSMEs.
By strengthening our MSMEs, we develop more businesses and create jobs. They are crucial to achieving a robust economy teeming with opportunities for all.
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