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What Causes Unemployment in The Philippines
What Causes Unemployment in The Philippines
Philippines?
In: Unemployment [Edit categories]
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_causes_unemployment_in_the_Philippines
The more probable cause of unemployment in the Philippines is the unavailability of jobs provided. With
a growing population of about a 8 million, millions needed jobs and only few can sure provide one. The
lack of investors and businesses that could provide good jobs for the Filipino people is one key factor in
the growing unemployment in the Philippines.
But probably, one cause of unemployment in the Philippines may be lack of education. With the
increasing demands of the fast developing world, it is really hard to find jobs when you are not a
graduate of a particular skill or course. Though the Philippines is a literate country, its not enough to be
able to reach the qualifications of most in-demand jobs because even mere sales ladies nowadays are
required to have at least 1-2 years in college. We are facing a competitive world and its a must to reach
the norms of development. Thus, a high educational attainment, which most Filipinos lack, is one way to
uplift the unemployment rate of the country.
Population growth averaged 2.9 percent from 1965 to 1980 and 2.5
percent in the late 1980s. While more than 40 percent of the population
was below fifteen years of age, the growth of the working-age
population--those fifteen years of age and older--was even more rapid
than total population growth. In the 1980s, the working-age population
grew by 2.7 percent annually. In addition, the labor force participation
rate--the proportion of working-age people who were in the labor force--
rose approximately 5 percentage points during the 1980s, largely
because of the increase in the proportion of women entering the work
force. So the actual labor force grew by 750,000 people or
approximately 4 percent each year during the 1980s.
Unemployment, which had averaged about 4.5 percent during the 1970s,
increased drastically following the economic crises of the early 1980s,
peaking in early 1989 at 11.4 percent. Urban areas fared worse;
unemployment in mid-1990, for example, remained above 15 percent in
Metro Manila.
From independence in 1946 until martial law was declared in 1972, the
government encouraged collective bargaining and, except for setting up
a commission in 1970 to supervise the fixing of minimum wages,
involved itself minimally in labor relations. For most of the martial law
period (1972-81), strikes were forbidden or severely limited. The Marcos
labor code of 1974 made arbitration compulsory. The right to strike was
partially restored in 1976, but with considerable restrictions. The Aquino
government took a somewhat more liberal approach to labor, but some
of the structures of the Marcos period remained.
The largest union body was the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines
(TUCP). Formed in December 1974, it was designated the official labor
center of the Philippines by the Marcos government. Another labor
organization, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), or the May First
Movement, was formed in July 1980, bringing together nine broadly
based, more ideologically oriented unions. The two major union centers
represented sharply different visions of the role of unions in society.
Although TUCP supported Marcos, it represented itself as a proponent of
nonpolitical unionism, concerned primarily with the collective
bargaining process. The KMU was more openly political, projecting
itself as a proponent of "genuine, militant, and nationalist unionism."
Going beyond collective bargaining, the KMU called for the formation
of worker solidarity movements and advocated a nationalist-oriented
alternative to the prevailing economic and social policies of the
government. The Labor Advisory and Consultative Council (LACC),
formed at the onset of the Aquino administration in 1986 by then Labor
Minister Agusto Sanchez, drew the various factions of the labor
movement together to advise the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
Membership in LACC included the KMU, the Federation of Free
Workers, Lakas Ng Manggagawa Labor Center, and, for a short while,
the TUCP.
When Aquino came into office in 1986, she had the backing of a wide
spectrum of the population, including those affiliated with labor unions.
In her May 1 speech that year, before a large and enthusiastic gathering
of labor groups, Aquino presented a package of labor-law reforms,
including extension of the right to strike, making it easier to petition for
a union certification election, and abrogation of repressive labor
legislation decreed by the Marcos government. Soon, however, the
president began to shift ground as she received vigorous protests by both
Filipino and foreign businessmen against her May Day promises. The
pledges were rethought, modified in some cases, and not promulgated in
others. This willingness to respond to the interests of the boardroom
rather than the shop floor also extended to official appointments. In
particular, her first minister of labor, Agusto Sanchez, was considered to
be too prolabor and eased out within a year of his appointment.
The TUCP was generally supportive of the Aquino government, but the
KMU and other progressive unions resisted the conservative drift of her
administration through strikes, demonstrations, and antigovernment
rallies. The KMU gained influence through its leadership of the national
strike, or Welga ng Bayan, in 1987, 1989, and 1990. From September to
December 1990, the KMU led a series of general strikes in response to
dramatic increases in the prices of petroleum products. These labor
actions were noteworthy both because of a heightened level of conflict
between strikers and the authorities and because of the participation of
professionals and other middle-class groups.
The global economic turmoil has dampened demand in Japan, the United
States and Western Europe -- large markets for Philippine export goods,
services and migrant workers. As these markets contracted, so did the
demand for Philippine labor.
"When there's no demand for your products, how can you continue to
hire people to make your products?" said Rene Cristobal, vice president
of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Inc. (ECOP).
Cristobal said several of ECOP's member-companies have to lay off
workers as they either close shops or reduce their output.
Analysts said the most vulnerable workers are those in the export-
oriented industries such as electronics and textile manufacturing. "The
recession in our trading partners has hit our exports sector hard," said
Philippine Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto. Philippine
economic planners expect export receipts to fall this year and this doesn't
bode well for workers, especially for those employed in labor-intensive
manufacturing companies.
"Assuming that the economy will not decelerate further in 2009, there is
reason to be cautiously optimistic that the unemployment rate will not
rise beyond 6.8 percent in the next few months," he said.
Recto conceded the crisis will pressure the employment situation, but he
believed that the strong macroeconomic fundamentals combined with the
330-billion-peso (about 6.84 billion US dollars) stimulus package will
cap the growth in unemployment rate.
For this year, despite the global recession, the Philippine GDP is
expected to expand at 3.7 percent to 4.4 percent. Recto said the easing of
inflation (estimated to hit 3.9 percent this year compared to last year's 9.3
percent) will boost consumption and keep the economy afloat. The
stimulus package -- the bulk of which will be used to build
infrastructures -- will create 800,000 new jobs.
Luz Lorenzo, regional economist of the ATR Kim Eng Securities, agrees
that the consumption driving Philippine economy will be resilient this
year. But such economic growth, she said, is not high enough to absorb
the burgeoning labor force.
"The economy will not fall in the deep end. But neither will it be a bed of
roses. Unemployment will remain a problem," she said. Migration: by
need not by choice
Father Corros said most of the retrenched migrant workers that the
Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerants has been assisting in
the past few months still prefer to work overseas instead of just staying in
their own country.
"Migrating is the only option for them because they can't find jobs here,"
he said, adding that "we go back to the same problem. They go abroad
because it's difficult to look for jobs here."
The global crisis may have slowed businesses and even retrenched more
than 5,000 Filipino migrant workers but analysts and government
officials believed that there will be demand for Philippine labor abroad.
This kind of policy has long been criticized by migrant rights advocates,
explaining that migration, although it brought in the much needed
remittances, also caused social problems. Numerous migrant workers
have been physically and sexually abused and have to endure exploitative
working conditions.
The separation also breaks family ties and hurt the children who were left
behind by their parents. What is needed, they said, is for the government
to develop an economy that will provide decent jobs and will make
migration a choice, not a necessity, for most of the country's labor force.
The current global economic crisis, however, doesn't offer such option.
The country's economic managers said one of the factors that will
support the consumption-driven economy is the steady inflow of
remittances. Labor deployment will therefore remain a key government
policy.
"We see a steady labor demand in the Middle East, Australia and
elsewhere which are responding to the crisis by embarking on
infrastructure projects with their own stimulus packages," Recto said in
last week's economic briefing.
Analysts said most Filipinos in the United States -- one of the top
destination countries for Filipino migrants -- will keep their jobs as
they're usually employed in the recession-proof healthcare sectors.
Industrialized economies with aging populations will continue to seek
cheap, English-proficient and skilled nurses and caregivers from
countries like the Philippines.
There are some bright spots in the domestic labor market. The business
process outsourcing (BPO) industry is expected to remain bullish. BPO
revenues are forecasted to grow by 20 percent to 30 percent this year and
companies expected to hire 100,000 new workers.
"A lot of companies are under a lot of pressure to cut cost so I think it
will accelerate outsourcing," said Alfredo Ayala, CEO of LiveIt
Solutions, Inc., the holding company for Ayala Corporation's investments
in business process outsourcing.
Call centers will remain the biggest revenue earner and employer in the
BPO sector. But BPO executives believe that the growing demand for the
high-value non-voice outsourcing sectors such as animation, software
development and back office will offer opportunities to the country's
programmers, graphic designers and accountants.
"Right now, we're really leading in the contact center sector. But now
we're trying to change that. We're trying to expand to the higher value
non-voice services," said Ma. Cristina Coronel, president of the
Philippine Software Industry Association.
Job openings, however, will not necessarily translate into full- time
employment. BPOs offer a lot of perks and benefits to its employees but
very few are qualified to work in the industry. To solve this problem,
BPOs are offering workshops and scholarships to expand its talent pool.
Despite her promise to alleviate the condition of the poor, President Arroyo seems to be losing
the battle against poverty
Poverty is one of the most serious social problems in the country today. This was highlighted by
the results of a recent Pulse Asia survey, which showed that one out of five Filipinos would
rather leave the country if only they had the opportunity.
Estimates of poverty incidence in the country relesaed by the National Statistical Coordination
Board (NCSB) show that 40% of the population, or some 31 million Filipinos, are poor. But
IBON Foundation's alternative estimates of poverty incidence show that nearly 88% of the
country's households are poor.
Low Wages
Comparing IBON's estimates of the daily cost of living with the daily minimum wage
demonstrates that most Filipino families do not earn enough to make ends meet (Table 1). But
even comparing government's low daily poverty threshold with the minimum wage reveals that
wages are inadequate compared with what a family needs just to survive.
This is because government is dead-set on keeping living standards, and wages, down in order to
keep the country competitive and attract foreign investors.
Table 1. Minimum Wage vs Daily Cost of Living & Daily Poverty Threshold (in pesos)
Region Daily Poverty Threshold Daily Cost of Living /a Minimum Wage /b Philippines 228.76
434.67 209.24 NCR 295.91 530.01 280.00 /c Areas outside NCR 217.63 416.25 168.47
/a - as of April 2002
To make things worse for the ordinary Filipino worker, their hard-earned peso can buy fewer
goods and services. Table 2 shows that the purchasing power of the peso in the country fell to
P0.603 in May from P0.625 last year.
Notably, the buying power of the fuel, light and water group fell in May to P0.564 from P0.622
lat year, due to increasing costs of fuel and electricity.
Although 2001 was marked by a series of oil price rollbacks, oil price hikes this year have
brough pump prices back to January 2001 levels.
Meanwhile, the National Statistics Office (NSO) April Labor Force Survey revealed that the
unemployment rate grew to 13.9% from 13.3% in April last year (See Table 3). The
underemployment rate also increased to 19.26% from 17.5% in the same period last year.
This means that more Filipinos were not earning enough to meet their needs and thus, are
seeking more work, or a second job.
Preliminary Results
69.9 33,098
66.4 33,621
69.0
86.1 29,705
89.7 29,160
86.7
13.9 3,393
10.3 4,461
13.3
19.6 4,724
15.9 5,092
17.5
The NSO also reported an increase in own account workers, most of them in the service sector,
to 11.4 million from 10.9 million a year earlier. These self-employed workers are considered
employed by the government even if they do not engage in productive work. Many of these are
forced to fend for themselves due to the lack of economic opportunities in the country.
There was also an increase in the number of unpaid family workers, to 4.096 miliion from 4.056
million a year earlier. These are workers who help in the families' business or work, yet are not
paid. This increase also points out the lack of employment opportunities, since these workers
would probably prefer to look for jobs to better help their families - if only there were jobs
available.
Retrenchment
Most people also lost their jobs due to an increase in closures in the first two months of the year.
The department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that some 152 firms closed and 671
reduced their workforce. A total of 20,962 workers were affected, a 79% increase from last year
(Table 4).
More closures should be expected as firms fail to compete with the influx of cheap exports
brought about by the government's globalization thrust.
No wonder so many Filipinos choose to seek their fortunes abroad. According to the DOLE,
some 2,500 Filipinos leave the country dialy to seek employment of migrate elsewhere.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54a/247.html
auses of Unemployment
Published on August 27, 2007 by Prit in Business and Society
Power can be defined as one persons ability to influence others does what ever they want even
though they dont like to do what is demanded and they resist doing what is demanded. For
example a professor can influence the students to assign work and demand them to do to satisfy
some criteria. As well a dictator like Hitler can control all aspects of life because of this ability to
impose his will on majority of people. In other words a person or group on other person or other
groups can use power legitimately or illegitimately. That is power need not come from proper
authority or legitimate authority. That is power and authority can be different in this respect.
http://bizcovering.com/business-and-society/causes-of-unemployment/
Unemployment Rate
Unemployment has been a persistent problem in the Philippines. The unemployment rate steadily
increased from 1990 until 2000. After a slight decline in 2001, the rate continued to rise until
peaking at 11.7% in 2005. It then dropped to 8.7% in 2006. Currently, the unemployment rate
stands at 7.3%. These numbers are much higher than other South East Asian countries, whose
rates tend to stay below 6%, barely peaking higher than 8%. What has caused the Philippines to
have such a high unemployment rate?
edit Factors
The population of the Philippines was 75.3 million in 2000; double what it was 20 years earlier. It
is predicted to double at least one more time before it stabilizes. Its population tends to remain
much greater than surrounding Asian countries. Mixed with poor economic performance, the
high population is problematic; theres too many people and not enough jobs, or
money/resources to create more jobs.
While it has a relatively high population, the Philippines GDP is not as large, although it
continues to grow. During the 1990s it stayed dramatically low. Compared to other South East
Asian countries, its GDP growth was 4-6% lower then theres. With the wealth of the nation
being so low, companies have less to spend, making it hard to create new jobs for people. Within
the past the years the GDP has been making a climb, however from $98.8 billion in 2005 to $167
billion in 2008; which would explain its recent declining unemployment rate.
The Philippines labor force is said to be growing by about 2.8% each year. It nearly doubled from
17.3 million in 1980 to 32.2 million in 2000. Factors contributing to this growth include the
rapidly growing population and the increasing number of women entering the workforce.
Employment opportunities have failed to keep up with the growing number of people in the
labor force.
Education
Education has only been a focus of government spending within the last 20 years. Many fiscal
problems kept educational spending limited in the Philippines until mid-1990s. The Philippines
ranks higher in education than most countries with comparable per capita incomes. However, in
2003, only 95% of children were attending primary school, and only were 64% attending
secondary school. Those people that arent attending school are typically trying to enter the
workforce, adding to the number of unemployed. With less people attending school, or
furthering their education, it limits the resources and knowledge available, which then makes it
hard to create new, or better jobs.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2002/wp0223.pdf
http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-
wdi&met=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:PHL&dl=en&hl=en&q=philippines+GDP
Balisacan, Arsenio M. and Hill, Hal. The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies,
and Challenges. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2003.
Betcherman, Gordon and Islam, Rizwanul. East Asian Labor Markets and the Economic
Crisis. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2001.
Retrieved from "http://internationalbusiness.wikia.com/wiki/Philippines_-
_micro_measures(unemployment)"
Poverty In Philippines
We have many premium term papers and essays on Poverty In Philippines. We also have a wide
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Poverty In Philippines
Introduction:
This study is about the economic, political and socio- cultural conditions of the Urban Poor. Urban poor
has become an interesting topic now days since it is very relevant to modern society. Poverty tends to be
the greatest ill that plagues the Filipino as a society. The poor ranges from poor, very poor, and to the
very, very poor. The topic URBAN POOR was selected from a group of topics given and then given
emphasis by the author according to the relevance of this specific group in today's world. Each condition
is specifically analyzed in different aspects and parts to further understand the study. In doing so, one
will be able to broaden one's ideas and analysis in certain conditions in relation to the topic about Urban
poor. This will also have an analysis of their general condition using a theory application- which most
probably is CONFLICT THEORY, a theory discussed in class with relation to the Sociological Theories
presented.
This paper was developed as a requirement and further study of the Sociological Theories presented in
class and as a meaningful output of all the lectures and discussions that happened during class. Analysis
was done by choosing a theoretical orientation from the ones discussed in class.
Students and professionals are the intended audiences of this study. This study will hopefully be of help
in the development of concrete analysis and plans not just towards the Sociological development of the
urban poor, but of the holistic development as well.
The informations contained in this study were based on researches provided by related literature and
on- line based sources, more of secondary sources. Sources related to the study are referred to the
bibliography at the end of the study. Conclusions are from the author of the text, as a product of
understanding from the related sources. With all the informations and analysis represented, may this
hopefully, a stepping stone in solving problems of today's society....
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Unemployment
All persons of ten years of age and above who worked at least one hour during the reference period [the
year]
There are three types of unemployment: structural unemployment, frictional unemployment, and
cyclical unemployment. In Pakistan, the rate of structural employment is more than others.
The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had dreamt of exploiting the immense natural resources
of the country for the best possible benefit of the people
Unemployment is caused by many factors in a modern market economy. It can be caused by rapid
technological change, business cycle or recessions, seasonal factors in some industries particularly such
as changes in tastes and climatic conditions which affects demand for certain products and services,
individual perceptions and willingness to work and search for jobs, their values and attitudes towards
some jobs and about employers, accessibility for retraining and acquisition of work skills, willingness and
perception of unemployed of the benefits of training and the possibility for them to get a job after the
training even though they have a chance to get a job, discrimination in the workplace based on race,
color. religion, ethnicity, age and class
The political class claims to have the answer, but unemployment is not the result of any one cause. It
makes its appearance in a great variety of circumstances, some in personal factors, some in economic
changes, and some in legislative and regulatory conditions. Throughout the year some workers may
appear in the labor market and then withdraw. Students work during the summer and return to school in
September. Building and construction activities, logging and lumbering, slaughtering and meat packing
are very seasonal and give rise to a considerable amount of temporary unemployment. Similarly,
industrial and technological changes may force workers to readjust and relocate. Jobs, wages, and
working conditions always point the way.