It's a rosy year

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013 (WESP) said the global economy is expected to grow at a measly 2.4% in 2013 and will remain subdued next year says a UN Report. On the US economy, CNN reports that it should be adding 173,000 jobs a month, up from this year's 157,000, according to the National Association for Business Economics thus, we it seems that the US is slowly inching towards recovery. Forecasts by experts on the Philippine economy are very encouraging -- mostly above 5%. I am a little optimistic this year because of the mid-term elections and the coming in and generation of jobs in the BPO sector.

I cannot help but of course, laud the Aquino administration for doing a good job last year however, there remains a lot of unfinished business that we need to address. There are still millions of Filipinos that are unemployed and underemployed not to mention the additional graduates who have yet to find their own jobs. Furthermore, the government is still very much focused on jobs that are available in the urban centers. Jobs have to generated as well in the provinces to reduce urban migration and growth of informal settlers. Improvement of agriculture, tourism, and rural construction works are crucial to driving the economies in the countrysides.

As far as Cebu goes, its worth noting the business confidence here. People are investing in real estate judging from the rapid growth of vertical residences that have been built and offered over the last three years. Residential subdivision projects have already spread to as far as  Carcar down south and to Bogo up north and its nice to know that Cebuano developers are getting a lion's share in real estate sales. Real estate development is another key to spreading the development in the countrysides -- thanks to our Cebuano OFWs for leading the way and entrusting their hard-earned money to real estate investments. Construction of decent housing outside the urban centers encourages retail businesses to expand in these areas. As a probinsiyano myself, it's such a convenience to be able to buy something that were once available only in the city.

The prospects of the IT sector, and I'm talking strictly IT (not call centers) is going to be a good year for them. With our abled and creative people in software and graphic arts, more and more projects have already been outsourced here. The thing is, we have not done anything yet to formalize those who have been doing IT jobs on a freelance basis. We need to organize and register them so they could enter into larger contracts and gain as well, revenues in terms of taxes. We have a lot of IT people around who are employed informally, they do not only deserve to have SSS and government-initiated employee benefits, they also deserve to become entrepreneurs.

Overall good times are up ahead and let's keep it that way thru hardwork and constant innovation.

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