DEPDev, Australia launch Juana Trabaho plan

The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development, or DEPDev, and the Australian Government’s Investing in Women initiative launched “Juana Trabaho” on Tuesday, March 10, as a new framework aimed at expanding Filipino women’s access to quality jobs.

The launch coincided with the celebration of National Women’s Month and highlighted the government’s push to raise women’s participation in the labor force through targeted employment policies.

Juana Trabaho is positioned as a strategic framework and action plan meant to increase women’s participation in the workforce by widening access to quality jobs.

The initiative follows the direction of the Philippine Development Plan 2023–2028 Midterm Update, which calls for programs and policies that address all forms of labor market discrimination and barriers to labor force participation.

It also aligns with the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan 2025–2034, the country’s long-term employment blueprint, which seeks to build a more resilient labor market.

That plan addresses major labor market pressures such as skills mismatch, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, and economic shifts caused by climate change.

Juana Trabaho is intended to operationalize key employment strategies specifically for women and other vulnerable groups under the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan 2025–2034.

The initiative also supports broader adoption of alternative and flexible work arrangements to encourage greater labor force participation among women and other vulnerable sectors.

The project reflects the Philippine government’s effort to close persistent labor market gaps affecting female workers despite the country’s relatively strong global gender equality standing.

Officials said women’s participation in the workforce remains significantly lower than men’s because of barriers such as unpaid care and domestic responsibilities, limited access to flexible work arrangements, and uneven job quality.

According to the Labor Force Survey, the full-year women’s labor force participation rate declined to 53.7 percent in 2025 from 54.7 percent in 2024.

“This reality underscores why increasing women’s labor force participation is a clear priority of the Philippine government. Under the TPB Plan, we aim to raise female labor force participation to 59 percent by 2034. Achieving this requires not only creating quality, secure, and accessible jobs for women but also ensuring that these jobs align with emerging industry demands brought about by a modernizing economy,” DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said.

Balisacan’s remarks underscore how the government is linking women’s employment not only to gender equality goals but also to broader economic modernization.

Increasing women’s labor force participation is also identified as a major priority under the Australia–Philippines Development Partnership Plan 2024–2029.

Australia, through Investing in Women, supports women’s economic empowerment across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

Australian officials said this work is intended to help build a stronger and more resilient economy while contributing to broader prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.

“Unlocking women’s full economic potential is critical for sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the Philippines. Australia is proud to work closely with the Philippine Government to promote policy reforms that advance gender-inclusive workplaces, a care economy that supports women, and ensure women’s full economic participation. We welcome the combined efforts of government, business, and civil society to drive inclusive economic growth in the Philippines, powered by more quality jobs for women,” Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Marc Innes-Brown said.

The Juana Trabaho initiative builds on earlier collaboration between DEPDev and Investing in Women on research involving gender-inclusive part-time work policies and inclusive flexible working arrangements in the Philippine private sector.

That earlier work provided policy groundwork for the new initiative’s focus on making workplaces more accessible and responsive to women’s needs.

The launch adds momentum to efforts to turn economic growth into more inclusive labor market outcomes for women, particularly as the government targets a female labor force participation rate of 59 percent by 2034.