Comprehensive Employment Strategy Program

As part of the preparations for the Employment Summit, the Institute commissioned a team of consultants to conduct studies on the major sectors of the labor market as inputs to the Comprehensive Employment Strategy Program.

Hereunder, are the highlights of their studies:

On the Agricultural Sector.  A discussion is presented on the probable impacts of trade liberalization on the agricultural sector amidst fears that it will only hurt the small farmers as well as the poor.  The study revealed that trade liberalization would accelerate agricultural growth as efficiency within this sector is enhanced through the application of improved technology, infrastructure and the provision of support services such as executive and legislative actions by the government.

On the Industry and Services Sector.  The country’s participation in the AFTA, APEC and GATT-WTO raised questions on the local industries’ ability to expand and compete globally.  The paper provides a closer insight on the current state of the industrial and service sectors including their capability of generating job opportunities and the competitiveness of their products.  It also presents courses of actions that the government must undertake to accelerate and reinforce the preparation of these sectors for international competitiveness.

Public Sector.  According to the study, our government is a large, highly centralized and expensive bureaucracy with badly distributed human resources.  To mitigate these systematic short-comings, the study puts forward several measures that can be implemented in either the administrative or legislative levels.  Administratively, the establishment of a clear system of managerial accountability would encourage greater productivity and effectiveness among the ranks.  The simplicity and accessibility of government programs and procedures would not only allow its immediate implementation, it would also result to the effective delivery of public service and compliance from the general public.  On the other hand, legislation may be required to reallocate responsibility as well as authority since there is a need to redistribute functions either vertically, as between national and local governments, or horizontally, between line agencies and departments.

Overseas Workers.  The paper calls for the provision of adequate assistance and protection to the overseas contract workers in the forms of administrative and legislative actionable programs, projects and policy reforms to ensure protection for current and prospective OCWs; improving the recruitment process; facilitating their productive re-entry; and accelerating employment generation in the domestic economy to lessen the attractiveness of overseas employment.

Industrial Relations.  Sustained industrial peace and stable industrial relations make the country an attractive investment destination.  To attain this, labor-management consultations at the bipartite and tripartite levels must be institutionalized considering the likely effects of globalization on industries.  This paper provides recommendations to minimize, if not totally obliterate, the problems that besiege Philippine industrial relations, such as:  legalism and piling up of arbitration cases, unsettled debates on floor issues and the politicized system of minimum wage fixing.