Group: RP quality of jobs worst in 50 years

A THINK thank group said Wednesday the country’s employment and quality of work experienced its worst in 2009, citing the worsening joblessness during the nine-year rule of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Research group Ibon said, the 11.2 percent average unemployment rate for the period 2001-2009 broke previous records of unemployment figures in the past five decades.

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Unemployment rates were “much lower” in 1956-1960 (8 percent), 1961-1970 (7.3 percent), 1971-1980 (5.4 percent), 1981-1990 (10.2 percent) and 1991-2000 (9.8 percent), according to Ibon.

It added that the government “grossly understate” the real labor situation of the country by only highlighting the decrease of unemployed workers despite the economic crisis.

“Although statistics show that 35.06 million are employed, the figure actually includes 4.22 million ‘unpaid family workers’ and 12.16 million ‘own-account workers’ covering those in informal sector work,” Ibon said.

“Also, the category ‘wage and salary workers’ covered by employment figures that imply job security and stability includes another layer of poor quality work: 4.67 million non-regular wage and salary workers or those with casual, contractual, probationary, apprentice or seasonal status and 11.21 million wage and salary workers employed but with only verbal contracts or none at all,” it added.

The group furthered that “poor quality jobs” partially make up for about 6.69 million underemployed people last year, while 36.4 percent jobs in 2009 were part-time work at 12.75 million.

“These figures sum up to 25.35 to 31.91 million Filipinos or 64.4 percent to 81 percent of the country's labor force either jobless or in poor quality work– the combined unemployed, unpaid family workers, own-account workers and non-regular or non-contract wage and salary workers.”

‘Be your own boss’

Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manny Villar meanwhile advised the 7.1 million underemployed Filipinos to go into business rather than rely on the job market.

“They have the desire and they have the time. They have to fuel that drive with lots of hard work and perseverance to achieve success. Nothing beats being your own boss,” Villar said in a statement.

Villar, who boasts of a rags-to-riches story, said his administration will prioritize an “entrepreneur-friendly and entrepreneur-ready environment,” which will include extending credit to small and medium-scale enterprises.

The Arroyo administration meanwhile said the country’s labor situation is stable despite the onslaught of typhoons last year and the onset of El Niño phenomenon.

Socio-economic planning Secretary Augusto Santos said on Monday that to sustain the good start of the domestic labor market, fast-tracking of rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure must be pursued.

Low-paying generated jobs

Citing data from the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) Labor Force Survey (LFS), the top three job-generating sectors are low-paying.

These sectors, which account for nearly one million jobs created, include wholesale and retail trade (408,000 increase), domestic helpers (342,000) and construction (230,000).

The survey said the average daily basic pay in these sectors in 2009 was just P258, P127, and P273, respectively.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said the average family living wage nationwide stood at around P840 already in 2008.

With this, Ibon said addressing joblessness and providing quality work remain to be the top issues that the next administration needs to resolve. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)