RP must create 3-4 million jobs/year to bridge employment gap

MANILA, Philippines - The government must create three to four million quality jobs every year to bridge the employment gap in the country, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said yesterday.

During the Roadmap for Enhanced Environment towards Sustainable Employment and Livelihood forum organized by the NCC, former dean of Ateneo de Manila University School of Economics and former president of Philippine Economic Society Dr. Fernando Aldaba said the Philippines needs to generate four to five million new jobs annually.

Roughly, this translates to 15 million quality jobs in the next five years in order to solve the employment gap and to soon become a newly-industrialized country.

In its job sufficiency strategy, the NCC urged the government and the private sector to focus on creating stable, full-time, and long-term jobs, starting with a forum that gathered leaders of key industries in the country, which included officers of local and foreign chambers of commerce.

According to Aldaba, only around 50 to 55 percent of the employed 36 million Filipinos are wage workers, or working in quality jobs.

Quality jobs is defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO) as productive and secure work that provides adequate income, offers social protection and ensures respect of labor rights and participation in the workplace.

Jobs in the services sector were seen to have the fastest growth in employment, however, most of the jobs occupied are short-term ones. The manufacturing sector shows to create most jobs considered to be of quality.

Meanwhile, there are as much as 15.6 million jobless Filipinos who have resorted in doing part-time jobs, temporary jobs on certain periods of the year or irregular jobs.

Aldaba identified several recommendations to improve employment in the Philippines. First, he advised the crafting and the implementation of a sound industrial policy to project a favorable business environment, so that the country can attract foreign and local investments.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which comprise a large proportion of the workforce, are suggested to be linked to large corporations where both companies can flourish. The assistance of local government units are also needed to create an adequate 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. The country also needs to further improve human capital with the help of the education sector, to avoid or reduce labor market issues, career mismatch. Lastly, a multi-stakeholder system should be created to formulate policies and programs and monitor implementation of job creation.

For his part, NCC private sector chairman Ambassador Cesar Bautista proposed to get support from the Makati Business Club, chambers of commerce, and government agencies because they all draw an underlying economic policy platform to close the unemployment gap for the country in the next five years.