A Gmanews.tv report revealed that a million jobs were lost from
2011-2012. The report cited data from the Department of Labor and
Employment showing that the number of employed Filipinos went down to
37.668 million in October 2012 from 38.55 million in October 2011. It
also cited data from the National Statistics Office showing that the
number of unemployed Filipinos went up to 2.7 million from 2.6 million
during the same period.
Well, the difference may be attributed to the government’s definition
of unemployment, which refers only to those who are actively seeking
work or looked for work within the last six months prior to the survey
and are immediately available for work. Those who have given up looking
for work are not considered unemployed.
The situation may even be worse because the definition of employment
also has some loopholes. Considered as employed are those who have
worked even for one hour with pay during the reference period and those
who have worked without pay who are classified as unpaid family work.
Also considered as employed are “own account workers,” which include
street hawkers, who, time and again, have to run from the police and
demolition crews of the MetroManila Development Authority.
Ibon Foundation estimates the number of unemployed in 2012 to 4.422
million. If we consider the number of underemployed, which is at 7.16
million, then the problem is even far worse than is officially reported.
It is thus, safe to conclude that the loss of one million jobs is
even understated. This dampens the boast that the Philippine economy is
doing well with its 6.6 percent growth rate in 2012.
Professor Rene Ofreneo of the UP School of Labor and Industrial
Relations, who was interviewed by Marc Jayson Cayabyab of gmanews.tv in
its report, hit the nail in the head when he pointed out the problem of
quality of jobs. “We have to remind them that the industry and
agriculture … are the real sectors. We cannot just rely on services,
overseas labor markets, and call centers. We need all the mobilization
of the economy,” Ofreneo reportedly said.
This is the problem with the GDP growth last year. It is mainly
driven by services, specifically construction both public and private.
Construction is seasonal. The construction industry is vibrant today
because of pump priming by the government and the boom in the
construction of condominiums and office spaces in anticipation of a
continuously increasing demand from business process outsourcing (BPO)
companies and their employees and overseas Filipino workers. SMDC alone
seems to be building condominiums everywhere. But this is temporary
because once the sales and occupancy rates of condominiums and office
spaces begin to decline because of market saturation, so will the
construction industry. This is why the Aquino government is banking on
public-private partnership projects. But even these have their limits.
Likewise, the retail industry is also seasonal. Demand fluctuates
according to the months of the year and is dependent on the purchasing
power of the people, which is mainly being propped up also by
remittances of OFWs, the shrinking middle class and BPOs.
The business process outsourcing (BPO), the so-called sunshine
industry of the Aquino administration and its predecessor, is also very
unstable. It is based on contracts from companies abroad secured by
locally-operating BPO companies. Employment in these companies is also,
therefore, based on contracts.
Large-scale mining for export, another industry being courted by the
Aquino government, is heavily dependent on foreign capital and on the
demands in the world market. In this period of crisis, the demand for
minerals that are necessary for production is expectedly low. And open
pit mining, which most big mining companies use, is not as labor
intensive as tunnel or underground mining, and therefore employs less
workers – aside from the fact that it leaves a permanent damage on the
environment.
Industry and agriculture are indeed the real sectors. These provide
the stable foundation for the economy. A national industry and
agriculture that are geared toward, first and foremost, providing for
the needs of the domestic economy – and not mainly for export, which
goes up and down according to the boom and bust of the world economy –
could create stability in the economy while providing long-term, stable
employment. To complement these, secure jobs with living wages should
be generated and a genuine agrarian reform program should be implemented
to increase the purchasing power of the Filipino people. In these
times when the world economic crisis is becoming increasingly more
virulent, this may be the only way for the economy to move forward.
(http://bulatlat.com/main/2013/02/22/loss-of-one-million-jobs-reveals-instability-of-philippine-economy/)
On this article, I realize that we can't really say that there was a loss of million jobs since the data that was show is only estimated and not accurate. I also agree that the definition of employment and unemployment have a loophole that we must consider since as pointed out on this article they considered an employee who worked even for one hour is employed which for me, I considered it as unemployed because the payment that they usually received is not enough for their daily needs and they also considered a person who have given up looking for a job as not part of the categories of unemployed workers.
Although, this news is not good to our economic status, we must also think positively. Since the government now knows this problem that we are facing today, they can now think and create a program that can help to solve this problem in a long term basis.
I also agree to what Professor Ofreneo said that "The industry and
agriculture are the real sectors. We cannot just rely on services,
overseas labor markets, and call centers. We need all the mobilization
of the economy,”It is because this services such as construction work, mining, etc cannot guarantee that it will provide the workers a long term works because some services is seasonal and we can't always depend in foreign investment.
In my own opinion, our government should focus to the problem in the agriculture and industry area because as we all know Philippine is known as an industry and agricultural country and we have abundant resources that only wait to be discovered and it might be a way to make our economy to be more progressive.
