Despite high economic growth, PH has highest unemployment rate in Asean

6:48 pm | Monday, September 3rd, 2012

Job applicants browse newspapers for job vacancies as they queue up at a job fair in Manila in this file photo. Despite the respectably high economic growth rate that the country registered in the second quarter of 2012, the Philippines has the worst unemployment rate in Southeast Asia, according to Ibon Foundation. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

MANILA, Philippines—Despite the respectably high economic growth rate that the country registered in the second quarter, the Philippines has the worst unemployment rate in Southeast Asia, independent think tank Ibon Foundation has pointed out.

“The Philippines’ average economic growth is reportedly higher than some Southeast Asian countries but at the same time, it also has the worst unemployment rates in the region,” Ibon Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa said in a statement.

The government had reported that the country’s second-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.9 percent year on year.

This was higher than the average growth of the region at 4.7 percent and faster than that of Malaysia (5.4 percent), Thailand (4.2 percent), Vietnam (4.4 percent), Singapore (2.0 percent), although lower than Indonesia’s 6.4 percent and China’s 7.8 percent.

Africa, however, said, citing 2011 official figures, that the Philippines unemployment rate was “the worst in Southeast Asia and more than double the regional average.”

“The country’s unemployment rate of 7 percent in 2011 was more than double the regional average of 3.2 percent and higher than in Indonesia (6.6 percent), Myanmar (4.0 percent), Malaysia (3.1 percent), Singapore (2.7 percent), Brunei (2.6 percent), Vietnam (2.0 percent), Cambodia (1.7 percent), Laos (1.4 percent) and Thailand (0.7 percent),” Africa said.

He added that the disparity between the high GDP growth and the unemployment rate “further highlights the exclusionary character of the country’s growth.”

“The country’s unemployment crisis will remain unresolved without a genuine thrust to develop Filipino manufacturing and domestic agriculture,” Africa said.

“Unfortunately, the government persists in promoting low employment and low value-added sectors such as business process outsourcing (BPO), mining, tourism, enclave manufacturing for export, and cheap labor export. These are sectors where foreign investors and economies benefit disproportionately more than Filipinos,” he said.

Recent Stories:

Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines.

Short URL: http://business.inquirer.net/?p=80138

Tags: ASEAN , economy , Philippines , unemployment

Jianne Garcia

Whether we’d like to admit this or not, we have to accept the fact na maraming mga “Juan Tamad” sa Pilipinas. Imbis kasi na maghanap ng trabaho, umaasa na lang sa kung ano pwedeng ibigay sa kanila. Umaasa na lang kasi sa kung ano ang ipapadala ng mga kamag-anak na OFW o sa kung sino man ang nagtatrabaho sa pamilya.

Look at Vietnam and other ASEAN countries that are comparable to our country. Kahit na hindi naman mayaman ang mga tao dun, at least meron silang trabaho at sinusuportahan nila ang sarili nila.

Pustahan, kapag ang mga taong ito sinipag at nagsihanap ng mga trabaho, magugulat ka na lang at biglang bababa ang unemployment rate natin.
INQ_reader

@pinakatagotago:disqus Do you understand what YOY means? It means the same period/month of the previous year is compare to this year. AND, this year is not 2011. It is already 2012.

You are contradicting yourself.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UN2K2XHKOVVMXAWURS4WJBHVAI David

Don’t worry, lads. The wealth of the rich would gradually “trickle down”, you’ll get your share eventually. Lower wages for workers would be good for business. Lower wages would mean more profit. More profit means more capital, and more capital means more jobs to be created. Never mind that you are already over-worked ,underpaid and you can hardly feed your family (it’s your fault because you spent more time with your wife than with your work). FYI, during the Industrial Revolution millions of workers lived only in unsanitary and over-crowded dormitories owned by their generous employers. They were given the opportunity to work instead of wasting their lives on drinking, gambling and killing each other. Children were given the splendid opportunity to be useful and be productive and they toiled for 15 hours. Thanks to the sweat and sacrifices of the workers the industry improved and they begin to experience the benefits of capitalism. The employers can now pay them better wages and improve their working conditions. It is not true that it is the troublesome labor unions that gave you those rights, it is actually the generosity of the employers and the economic growth of capitalism. They experienced worse than you do so stop whining about “greedy” capitalists, because the “invisible hand” of capitalism would eventually work for everyone’s betterment. Stop whining, work harder and maybe you can be a capitalist someday.

P.S. Spending more would be good for the economy, too. ;) hehehehe
http://profile.yahoo.com/SHJZR76LIZ3P6EC3DHL5RKXKAU Sargo

akala ko ba eh umuunlad ang Pinas? yung high growth na yan ang ibig sabihin, yung mga may ari lang ng malalaking kompanya ang nakikinabang. Penoy ang dapat mong suportahan eh yung mga small and medium businesses na makakapag palago ng employment.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1594869652 Ismael Bihasa

pinakamagandang gawin ng pamahalaan magpatayu din ng mga malalaking shopping malls na syang magiging outlets ng mga Pilipino products..

http://alasfilipinas.blogspot.com/ Pepe Alas

You mean a mall managed by the national government? It’s worth a try. But it is known to many that the government is not a skillful “business manager”.

pugadlawin

Real reduction in unemployment will come with rural development through agri and manufacturing.. if our govt won’t support businesses in these sectors.. well.. our country will be forever an OFW exporter.

At and problema puro instik na produkto ang nasa malls kaya sila ang yumayaman.
ang pera ng OFW napupunta lang sa SM, Robinson’s etc…instik pa din..
nardong_tutpik

Ibon is leftist propaganda. They don’t want to mention the fact the PH unemployment rate is actually going down and still is going down per year if not per quarter. Google this data everyone.

So how do you twist a good news into bad and still criticize the government? By stating that we have the highest unemployment compared to other ASEAN countries who’s statistical gathering capabilities is even questionable ( ex Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia).
asdafaa qwesda

Does Ibon realize that no country has ever successfully industrialized with the inflexible and highly regulated labor laws we possess? The ASEAN countries they cited are also known for having business friendly labor laws; if not now at least at the time when they overtook the Philippines.

Industrialization cannot happen overnight. We cannot produce high value goods in one go. Supply chains must be developed by producing lower value basic goods that are used as inputs by higher value industries (as Japan, China, and Korea have done). And because they are low value and low profit, workers shouldn’t expect high salaries initially (again the same experience of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean workers when their country was industrializing). Additionally the low profit margin means it takes a long time to get your return on investment. A labor strike can wipe you out. Sometimes you just give in not because you can still make money but only to cut your losses so you can sell your inventory and/or pay back a bank loan before closing shop (something the parasites at IBON do not appear to understand).

Of course there is the theory that one can import the basic inputs and leapfrog into higher value manufacturing. But to this I say:
1.) To my knowledge, no country has done this.
2.) The Filipino’s highly import protectionist instinct make this unlikely.
3.) It requires a highly trained and experienced workforce which our educational system and industry cannot provide as evidenced by the popularity of leftists like IBON.
4.) It requires a highly developed labor and capital market that allows talented individuals, investors, suppliers, and buyers to find each other.

Although these conditions MIGHT be solved by allowing foreigners to own the majority of businesses as they can bring in the talent, money, network of suppliers and buyers. But this will not help the less educated and/or intelligent workers get jobs as higher value work requires higher value skills.

guestpetron

“But this will not help the less educated and/or intelligent workers get jobs as higher value work requires higher value skills.”

I have a question: How the ‘less educated and/or intelligent workers’ can become ‘higher value skilled workers’?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UN2K2XHKOVVMXAWURS4WJBHVAI David

..aaanndd it’s the workers fault na nman. Overworked na, underpaid pa, laganap pa ang union-busting at unfair labor practices pero labor parin ang dapat i-blame. >.<

Despite high economic growth, PH has highest unemployment rate in Asean

News

Sports

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Business

Technology

Opinion

Global Nation