Manila, Philippines (Eagle News Service) — The Philippines will have three million more jobs with the coming of ASEAN Integration, but 38 percent of this would be in the field of vulnerable jobs.
This was according to a study of the International Labor Organization which was mentioned in a recent forum on 21st century skills for ASEAN, hosted by Asia Society Philippines.
According to ILO country director Lawrence Jeff Johnson, the ASEAN Integration will create at least three million jobs for the Philippines
“With the ASEAN free trade the net increase in jobs will be over 3 million for the Philippines, which is a very positive sign. The challenge really is not just that creation of jobs but how many decent and productive jobs we’re creating,” he said.
Johnson said that of the three million jobs to be created, 38 percent of this will be vulnerably employed. This was based on the study that the ILO did together with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He said that unemployment is in fact not the major issue for ASEAN Integration.
“We know from the study that the ILO had worked on with the ADB that about 38 % of those jobs that are created are going to be among the ranks of the vulnerably employed. Within the ASEAN region, unemployment is not often the major issue. Those who are unemployed are often those who have good education and their families can afford to keep them out of work until they find the right job,” Johnson explained.
According to the ILO country director, the Philippines and the Asean region have to rise to the challenge of this sector of vulnerably employed. And the challenge is for the poor, for those who cannot afford, to be able to improve themselves by training and skills improvement.
“The challenge really is, those who can’t afford, the poor have to accept or even create whatever forms of work they can find just to survive another day. These are the people we see selling water on the streets — doing any job that they can find to survive: The subsistence level farmer, the fisher folks. What we need to work on is how to transform those jobs, either by improving skills, providing training, and most importantly providing opportunities for them to actually engage in a growing economy,” he said.
The ILO country director also mentioned the sectors that would be growing with the implementation of the ASEAN integration. Top most of which are in the fields of agriculture, construction, infrastructure and tourism.
” The Philippines is the fruit basket of Asia. We see an opportunity not only to create jobs that grow food but also those that produce, refine, and process. it could be a great growth sector,” he said.
Johnson also stressed the need to empower workers, further training them to make significant decisions especially in the field of customer relations.
“We also need to make sure the training of our workers and empowering them to make decisions. Too often workers are not given the authority in the power to make decisions, to improve customer service and that something we can work on.
Johnson was among the speakers in the understanding ASEAN series of Asia society that tackled the issue of workers and labor in the era of ASEAN Integration. The event was held at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati.