Over 3 million Filipinos are expected to gain employment due to the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which takes effect on January 1, 2016.
In a brief on the Philippines, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said this represents a 6-percent increase in total employment in the country.
However, the ILO and the ADB said around 38 percent of these workers would be vulnerable jobs; and women account for just 35 percent of expected job gains.
“If decisive policy action is taken, the AEC has the potential to ensure sustained economic growth centered on decent and productive work, thus, help the Philippines achieve its goal of inclusive growth that creates jobs and reduces poverty,” ILO Country Office for the Philippines Director Lawrence Jeff Johnson said.
By the end of 2015, the AEC, a single common market and production base, will take shape, covering the 10 Asean member-states, including the Philippines.
The freer flow of goods, services, investment and skilled labor will impact on the structure of the economy, as well as jobs, skills, wages and labor mobility in the region.
Under the AEC, the ILO and the ADB said there will be an over 60-percent increase in demand for low-skilled work.
Further, there will be a projected 60-percent increase in the demand for high-skilled employment, such as managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals.
Medium-skilled employment could also grow by around 25 percent. This covers mainly clerks, craft and related trade workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers, and service and sales workers.
“This highlights the need to improve the quality and relevance of education and technical and vocational education, and training in the Philippines to provide a smoother transition from the classroom to the workplace for Filipino youth,” the ILO and the ADB said.
With the Philippines’s integration into the AEC, it is also expected that labor migration will continue to increase.
Labor migration, particularly for low- and medium-skilled workers, requires collective regional action to safeguard the rights of migrant workers, extend the coverage and portability of social security, and expand mutual skills recognition.
The study also urged the Philippine government to undertake specific measures to not only ensure that workers are up to par with their counterparts in the Asean but also protected.
The ILO and the ADB said there is a need to create better jobs, including through industrial policies that target agro-industry for high-value farming products and more investment in irrigation, infrastructure and transport in rural areas.
There is also a need to enhance social-protection programs; improve implementation of existing schemes; and enforce better disaster-preparedness and response measures.
The report also stated there is a need to upgrade skills to meet shifting demand, including the effective implementation of the K to 12 Program, increase enrolment, minimize dropouts and expand schools in remote areas.
There should also be an improvement in the technical and vocational education and training, as well as a reform in the curricula for students.
The ILO and the ADB also said there is a need to improve protection for migrant workers to provide legal and social protection and social-security coverage to overseas Filipino workers, while further enforcement is also needed to stop recruitment malpractice.
The report also stated that there is a need to strengthen collective bargaining to improve the productivity-wage link, since better mechanisms can help translate the benefits of closer economic integration into shared prosperity.
Cai U. Ordinario