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ILO Director General Juan Somavia issued a statement describing dim prospects for the creation of new jobs this year, saying the employment picture for 2008 is one of contrasts and uncertainty.
In its Global Employment Trends report for 2008, the Geneva-based labor group predicted that the worldwide jobless rate is set to increase from 6.0 percent in 2007 to 6.1 percent this year.
The ILO further said it is very likely there will be a downward revision of production growth. It said the slowdown in industrialized countries due to the credit crunch and soaring oil prices has been offset by the strong performance of the economies of developing countries, especially in Asia.
The ILO said new jobs created in Asia constituted 28 percent of all new jobs. But these new jobs remained vulnerable, with seven out of 10 of them classified as self-employment, without social security or workplace protection, making them weak and vulnerable to erosion at any time.
In Manila, despite praise received by the Philippine government from some economic analysts for the strong performance of the local currency, Filipinos are skeptical that the sharp increase in the value of the peso would translate to economic benefits for the country's labor force of more than 30 million.
In its report, "The Economy and the Arroyo Presidency: Buying Time in 2007, Critical Times in 2008," the independent think tank the IBON Foundation asserted that the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is merely engaged in a propaganda game.
It argued that the appreciation of the peso and the economic growth rate have not improved the people's livelihoods or welfare, adding that the dismal employment situation, poverty and inequality remain, and that this is what matters most to the people.
According to the year-end IBON report, the Arroyo presidency has dragged the economy into record levels of joblessness. Last year, there were 4.1 million jobless Filipinos and the average annual unemployment rate remains at a disturbing 10.8 percent. From 2001 to 2007, the average unemployment rate was 11.3 percent, the worst in the country's history.
However, based on official reports, there are only 2.7 million jobless Filipinos in the country, and the unemployment rate was drastically reduced from a high of 11 percent to 7.3 percent in 2007. But IBON said the government has used a revised definition of the unemployment rate by reducing the number of jobless through statistical spin and not by creating jobs or reporting those who are jobless.
The research group said the Philippine government started using a revised definition of unemployment in April 2005, when it removed long-discouraged job seekers and those not available or willing to immediately take up employment by classifying them as "not in the labor force."
Last year, this had the effect of dramatically reducing the officially reported labor participation rate of 66.5 percent. The spin, IBON said, resulted in a reduction of Filipinos reported jobless by 1.4 million and a lowering of the unemployment rate by 3.5 percent.
The same report said despite the hype about rapid economic growth and the creation of 861,000 net jobs in 2007, the increase is merely 2.6 percent, aside from the fact that the country's labor force has been growing at an annual rate of 2.9 percent from 2001 to 2007, outpacing the supposed growth in job creation.
Despite the hype on job creation, there were still 597,000 new jobless Filipinos and 803,000 underemployed Filipinos last year. If we take into account the nature and quality of these jobs, they are among the lowest paying, most temporary and insecure jobs in the Philippines, and they could be terminated within six months or less depending on the performance of the economy or the economic and financial capabilities of their employers.
The most jobs created in 2007 were in domestic households, numbering 142,000. Next were 116,000 in transport, communication and storage, 111,000 in wholesale and retail trade, 104,000 in real estate and 103,000 in construction. IBON said these jobs were in sectors not considered vital in forming the foundations of a strong economy.
By contrast, the two sectors that should constitute the real foundations of a sound economy, agriculture and manufacturing, produced only 72,000 and 4,000 jobs respectively -- indicating the economy is not going in the right direction.
Going back to the ILO report regarding the possible 5 million job losses, it is now clear that this estimate could be conservative given the current trends in the Philippines' labor sector alone.
The national policy is to offer cheap and docile labor, or sacrifice jobs and workers' welfare and benefits at the altar of the multinational thirst for profits through wage cuts and the elimination of economic and social benefits. Thus millions in the Philippine workforce are expected to join the swelling ranks of the unemployed in the next two to three years.
The ILO said the government should place labor market policies at the heart of its macroeconomic strategy to ensure that growth translates into new jobs. It said it would monitor the current economic situation to keep pace with the global labor situation.
It is time for the ILO to go to the Philippines and witness how the world's economic powers take advantage of the global crisis to further exploit the Filipino working class in the name of capital and profits, by reducing jobs and making working people day-to-day objects of transnational plunder and exploitation.
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(Gerry Albert Corpuz is a correspondent of Bulatlat.com, an alternative Philippine online news site. He is also the head of the information department of Pamalakaya, a national federation of small fisherfolk organizations in the Philippines. His website is www.gerryalbertcorpuz.motime.com, and he can be contacted at themanager98@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Gerry Albert Corpuz.)
