A robust agricultural growth over the years stimulates, directly and indirectly, the creation of new industries in non-farm sectors through inter-sectoral linkages effects, thus facilitating rural economic growth.  As development proceeds, employment is transformed from being largely agriculture-based to one that is heavily demanded by industry and the services sector. 

In an economy highly susceptible to external economic downswings and consistency plagued by low agriculture productivity such as the Philippines, employment in non-farm sectors provides the bridge to sustain rural productivity and incomes.  Non-farm employment, therefore, serves both as a critical driver to rural development, and as a safety net during economic agitation.

This paper presents some recent developments in the Philippines and its impact on rural employment.  It discusses the employment generation strategies adopted to sustain rural development in the long term, and cushion the effects of the financial crisis and the El Niño drought in the short term.  Toward the end, some views are forwarded about areas of rural employment policy, which need to be addressed more fully in light of immediate concerns, such as the lingering effects of the financial crisis, further liberalization of agricultural trade, and increasing need for sustainable development.