THE International Labor Organization (ILO) has expressed support for the Philippine government’s new policy covering domestic helpers, saying that the move is expected to reap benefits in the long term.

 “I suppose we have to support anything that gives out a higher price on domestic workers. One has to think long term as long as it goes towards a good direction,” ILO regional director Linda Wirth said in an interview Thursday during a discussion on human trafficking held at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Makati City.

Wirth said the ILO recognizes the problems being faced by household workers and that any policy to address these “[will] always have some effect.”

The ILO representative is referring to a circular issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration that increased the monthly salary of household workers deployed abroad from $200 to $400, changed the minimum age requirement to 25 and above, banned placement fees, and required them to undergo training and assessment.

On the issue of the proposed P125 across-the-board wage increase pushed by legislators, Wirth said there should be a balance between productivity and decent income to keep the wheels of growth running.

 “One has to be in control of productivity but also decent income. There should be a social dialogue and social mechanism to come to try to find balances,” Wirth explained.

Meanwhile, the ILO revealed that the number of unemployed people worldwide has remained high despite strong global economic gains.

In a report called Global Employment Trends 2007, the ILO said the regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific continue to feel the effects of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

 “While some economies have still not fully recovered from the Asian financial crisis, others are struggling with the shift from centrally organized economies to private markets. The redundancy of many former state sector employees has increased pressure for private sector job creation, at the same time as the postcrisis period adversely affected private investment,” said the ILO.

Compared to South Asia and East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific experienced lower GDP growth and higher unemployment, according to the report. At the same time, the region had to cope with the highest annual labor force growth rate of 2.2 percent per year on average.

To address this growing decent work deficit, the study proposes addressing five key issues: balancing productivity growth with decent job creation, promoting decent jobs for young people, managing labor migration, reforming the governance of labor markets and extending social protection.

As of October 2006, the Philippines’ unemployment rate is estimated at 7.3 percent with underemployment higher at 20.4 percent, according to the National Statistics Office.

 “The strong economic growth of the last decade has had only a slight impact on reducing poverty. Even when women and men continue to work and work very hard, they often do not earn enough to escape poverty. The greatest challenge is to create decent and productive jobs not any jobs to reduce poverty and slash the number of working families but still living in poverty,” said Wirth.  

INITIAL stages of the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) Phase 2 project would be implemented by October this year to connect major routes to and from Metro Manila, officials from Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) said.

WITH world oil prices softening, the government is reviewing its options in the development of the Camago-Malampaya Oil Leg (CMOL), Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla told reporters on Saturday.

AMID the volatility in world oil prices seen in the past few days, the Department of Energy remains optimistic that world oil prices will further soften next month, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla told reporters Saturday.

THE International Labor Organization (ILO) has expressed support for the Philippine government’s new policy covering domestic helpers, saying that the move is expected to reap benefits in the long term.

DAVAO CITY—Mindanao’s biggest rural bank has been going to remote areas where commercial banks did not dare to tread and continued to reap huge dividends in return, the bank’s chief executive said.