Is she serious?
This question crossed my mind after reading last week Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz’s announcement that the government will allow the entry of foreign workers in at least 15 jobs in the country that have a shortage of skilled workers.
Based on a study conducted by her office, the occupational shortage list includes, among others, architects, chemists, sanitary engineers and medical technologists.
Baldoz said an occupation suffers from shortage if there is a high demand for the position but few applicants, or the qualified applicants are few compared to the available slots.
She also stated that the government will exempt foreign workers from the fees and requirements normally imposed on foreigners seeking employment in our country.
Ironically, the liberalization policy comes at a time when, according to the latest government survey, out of 41.17 million Filipinos willing and able to work, 3.3 million are unemployed while 10.9 million are underemployed.
The underemployed consists of people currently working but still looking for extra work to augment their income, or working on jobs to which they are overqualified but are forced to take on due to the scarcity of positions that match their education or training.
Employment
The dire employment situation has compelled some 10 million Filipinos to look for work elsewhere in the world and, in the process, suffer harsh working conditions and abusive employers.
The exodus is expected to continue as there are not enough jobs in the country to absorb the approximately 300,000 graduates that our colleges and universities produce every year.
Not surprisingly, the “open door” policy drew strong reaction from the chair of Migrante International, a migrant workers organization, who described it as “absurd, atrocious and awfully insulting to millions of our Filipino workers and professionals here and abroad.”
Viewed in relation to the mission statement of the Department of Labor and Employment, which reads “to promote employment opportunities, develop human resources, protect workers and promote their welfare, and promote industrial peace,” something is awfully wrong with the policy.
Since DOLE is part of the Philippine government, it is reasonable to assume that the workers referred to are Filipinos, not citizens or nationals of other countries.
Assuming the shortage is true, DOLE has been unable to explain why, in spite of the thousands of graduates our schools produce every year, very few of them are able to fill up the jobs that are supposedly looking for qualified workers.
Higher pay
The problem can be traced either to insufficient skills or training on the part of the job applicants, or the salaries paid by foreign jobs are more appealing than those given by local companies.
If it’s the first reason, DOLE should, in cooperation with other government offices, immediately take the proper steps to remedy the situation. It is not as if this problem is of a recent vintage and DOLE found out about it only yesterday.
The skills of Filipino workers that other countries have learned to appreciate are just waiting to be honed to meet the requirements of local companies supposedly suffering from shortages.
If it’s the latter reason, there is little that DOLE can do about it. The solution rests with the stakeholders who claim to lack qualified workers—they have to offer better salaries to attract Filipino workers.
It is foolhardy to think that skilled foreign workers, if at all, will agree to relocate to the Philippines to take on jobs that pay less than what they get in their own countries.
Stakeholders
Bottom line, whether Filipino or foreign worker, the stakeholders have to adjust their salary scales to get the talents they need if they want to remain competitive.
If Baldoz is to be believed, the liberalization policy is needed to maintain the competitiveness of our industries through the availability of qualified workers. She claimed to have held prior consultations with the stakeholders before deciding on that action.
She did not say, however, who she consulted with, what interests they represent, and how they came to the conclusion there are not enough, for example, Filipino architects, chemists, sanitary engineers and medical technologists who can meet their requirements.
The answers to these questions are essential in determining whether the stakeholders’ desire to invite foreign workers to the country is based on reasonable grounds or a merely ploy to justify opening more job opportunities to foreign nationals at the expense of local workers.
There is nothing wrong with qualified foreign workers joining the domestic work force if the need is real or essential to sustain the momentum of the country’s economic growth.
Lately, there has been a marked increase in the number of foreigners working in the country as a result of the boom in construction, business process outsourcing and various infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership program.
Almost every day, the broadsheets carry notices about alien employment permits being issued by DOLE to foreigners to work as consultants, advisers, assistants or supervisors in foreign companies operating here.
They are allowed to work on the premise they will do work no other Filipino can perform, or have security clearances issued by their home offices that are essential to the positions they are assigned.
This influx has drawn numerous complaints from many Filipino professionals who lose out to expatriates in lucrative positions in foreign companies doing business in the country.
If, at present, with all the fees and requirements imposed, these permits are already liberally issued, expect that number to grow in leaps and bounds once DOLE implements its liberalization policy.
Hooray to the displacement of Filipino workers in their own country!
(For comments, send your e-mail to rpalabrica@inquirer.com.ph.)