By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

Pres. Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III pointed out in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA): “A reminder to all: creating jobs is foremost on our agenda.” In fact, he did not have to say that. As the executive head, he is to implement the spirit of the Constitution, which includes Section 1, Art XI that states: “The goals of the national economy are a more suitable distribution of opportunities, income , and wealth……”

But like many politicians, these words uttered by Aquino are part of politicking. As an independent think tank Ibon Foundation says, “joblessness actually remains high while the quality of work has even worsened.” Yes, even with the change of administration from Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo to Aquino.
Like Ibon Foundation, the International Labor Organization (ILO) Philippine office made a recent revelation on the labor situation in the country. ILO says that 3.8 million Filipino youth are unemployed or vulnerable to abuse in their current jobs. The data is close to Ibon’s, “the overall joblessness total to 4.5 million”. What is clear is the major number of the jobless are youth, who according to our government are aged 15 to 30.

It is very interesting to note that 1.5 million from the 3.8 million are youth who are hunting for jobs despite having invested (with their parents) so much in their education. So that education is not an assurance that you will end up with a job.

I remember Kabataan Party List Rep. Mong Palatino who said that there were 400,000 graduates last summer who most possibly would end up in the ranks of the jobless.

In the first year of Aquino, Ibon reported that unemployment and underemployed increased by 600,000. Unemployed and underemployed now total to 11.6 million Filipinos. Of course the effect, less jobs and added labor force which could only mean more cheap, cheap labor.

One more thing to note is that the youth (the new labor force) are exposed to more abuse. If the educated youth who landed jobs can be removed due to their lack of understanding or knowledge of their rights as protected by the law, it could even be worst for the working youth who failed to finish formal education.
ILO Philippine Director Lawrence Jeff Johnson pointed out that 2.3 million Filipino youth are forced into workplaces where they are exposed to abuse due to the lack of formal education. The situation is compounded by the fact that they are un-organized workers and even if they are, they could be subjected to union repression.

There is something wrong with the government’s labor policy which is manifested in the above data. In fact, Ibon Foundation says that the reported jobs created of 1.4 million was actually offset by the 1.2 million growth in the labor force. The quality of work too should be scrutinized as the security of tenure is unreal for the present number of on-going jobs. Take note too that employment is geared towards going overseas where jobs there actually failed to secure the tenure and the livelihood of the Filipino workers.

We don’t need an economists to convince us that the situation under Aquino has not changed. The data speaks for itself! #nordis.net