SAN FRANCISCO, CA – With economic models straining in every corner of the world, no economy can afford to perpetuate the barriers facing women in the workforce, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sept. 16 at the Asian Pacific Economic Council (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit.

The summit addressed access to capital and markets for women, building their capacities and skills, and supporting the rise of women leaders in the public and private sectors. Participants also discussed innovation, green growth, technology, entrepreneurship, and public-private partnerships.

Secretary Clinton said that by increasing women’s participation in the economy and enhancing their efficiency and productivity, a dramatic impact on the competitiveness and growth of the region’s economies can be achieved.

MANILA -- An improbable journey by a Filipino-owned PC manufacturer has led it to something that has never been done before: Export laptops to China, dubbed the world’s factory.

RedFox, which most Filipinos assume as a foreign PC brand, actually operates a manufacturing hub in Rosario, Cavite where laptops are assembled for sale in the domestic market and other countries such Taiwan, Singapore, and China.

SINGAPORE (July 15) – “The Philippines is coping well in the existing global economic crisis and has made significant economic progress.” So says the report of external analysts, documenting progress of the Philippines toward APEC’s Bogor Goals.

MANILA—As  the new phase of Saudi labor localization, or also known as Nitaqat, commences, hundreds of thousands of Filipino migrant nurses in Saudi Arabia faced uncertain situation on the status of their employment.

According to Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona Saudi’s Ministry of Health has already announced a plan to localize nursing jobs in all its medical facilities.

There are about 130,000 to 150,000 Filipino nurses in Saudi.

MANILA (June 16) -- Two yen loans and one grant aid project worth Y44.91 billion (approximately P21.70 billion) and Y1.013 billion (approximately P488.94 million), respectively, will be signed during the official visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Japan from 17-20 June, the Department of Foreign Affairs has announced.

The yen loan projects are the Agricultural Credit Support Project (ACSP) and the Logistics Infrastructure Development Project (LIDP) while the grant aid project involves the Project for Flood Disaster Mitigation in Camiguin Island.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 6)– “If you build it, they will come,” say guests of the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Technology Entrepreneur Seminar.

The economic landscape has incurred some dramatic changes: budget cuts, climate change, social and demographic shifts pose a new set of challenges.  However, say industry experts, for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are able to adapt, such changes offer a wealth of opportunities:

MANILA -- Government’s latest labor force survey pegs unemployment at 2.80 million in October 2010, slightly higher than the 2.72 million reported in the same period last year. However these data could place the number of unemployed at 4.16 million instead, according to research group IBON.

The figure is based on a recently revised definition of unemployment and an estimate approximating the previous definition for comparability with previous years.

MANILA (June 12) -- The Philippines has started to enter into what is effectively a recession since last year, according to research group IBON Foundation. This is considering not just the steeply dropping growth rates but also the rising joblessness and poverty in the country.