RP needs 3M-4M jobs a year
to plug employment gap
The Philippines needs to generate 15 million quality jobs in the next five years – 3 to 4 million a year – to bridge the employment gap and bring the country to newly industrialized status, according to a job sufficiency strategy commissioned by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC).
Quality job is defined by the International Labor Organization as productive and secure work that provides adequate income, offers social protection and ensures respect of labor rights and participation in the workplace.
Based on data from the National Statistics Office, the Philippines has been adding just less than a million jobs every year.
Latest statistics as of October 2009, there were 35.477 million employed people, or an increase of 942,000 people from 34.535 million employed in October 2008.
This was higher than the 863,000 increase in 2008 from the 2007 number of employed people at 33.672 million. It was in 2007 where the highest increase in employment was recorded at 33.672 million representing an increase of 786,000 from 2006 employment of 32.886 million. From 2005 to 2006, there were only 358,000 increment jobs created from 2005 employment figure of 35.528 million.
NCC said both government and private sector will have to concentrate on creating stable, full-time, and long-term jobs.
The Philippine employment sufficiency plan was based on an eight-month study done by Dr. Fernando Aldaba, former dean of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Economics and former president of the Philippine Economic Society.
According to Aldaba, only 50 to 55 percent of the employed 36 million Filipinos are wage workers, or working in quality jobs.
While jobs in services post the fastest growth, these jobs are short-term compared to manufacturing jobs which are considered to be of quality.
Some of the 15.6 million jobless Filipinos resort to doing part-time jobs, temporary jobs on certain periods of the year, and irregular jobs.
Of that, 7.3 million are underemployed, working in low-paying jobs in the services sector. Around 2.82 million Filipinos do not have jobs and are looking for one, and people who have migrated overseas in search of better opportunities.
Aldaba said to improve employment, a sound industrial policy is needed to better project a favorable business environment so that the country can attract foreign and local investments.
He also said small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for a large proportion of the workforce, should be linked to large corporations in a system where both can flourish. The assistance of local government units is also needed to create an environment that draws and sustains labor intensive investments.
There are also plans to develop financial markets by tapping domestic savings and harnessing remittances, and turning them into productive investments in local rural banks (e.g. LGU bonds).
The country also needs to further improve human capital with the help of the education sector, to avoid or reduce labor market issues such as career mismatch.
The country’s unemployment rate posted 7.1 percent as of October 2009. Underemployment was at 19.4 percent.
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