Rome, Italy 13/02/2014
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| Statistics: Unemployment in RP as high as ever. (downloaded photo) |
There is an estimated 12.1 million jobless Filipinos or the
27. 5 percent of the working force, according to a Social Weather Stations
(SWS) survey for the last quarter of 2013. According to SWS, the unemployment
rate rose to 6 percentage points higher than the 21.7 percent in the previous
quarter of the same year.
But the presidents’ spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, said that
calamities like typhoons Pablo and Yolanda, and including the earthquake that
hit Bohol and Cebu last year, were the only reasons for the rising of
unemployment.
In fact, The cause of the present jobs disaster in the
country is not Yolanda but the presidents's policies. The administration's dependence on foreign investments and
refusal to implement genuine land reform and national industrialization are
disastrous for the employment situation in the country.
Even the government’s own data shows that unemployment has
been increasing for the last three years. Labor Force Survey also shows that
unemployment has been increasing, from 7.1 per cent in 2011 to7.2 per cent in
2012 and to 7.3 per cent in 2013.
The high unemployment rate contradicts the 7.2 economic
growth. It is a jobless growth not an inclusive growth.
According to Bong Labog, Chairman of militant labor group
KMU, foreign investments in the country are concentrated in mining, real
estate, and business process outsourcing which do not create a labor base as
broad as that of manufacturing.
The government’s plan of attracting foreign investors to the
country is detrimental to Filipino workers as it means the offering up of cheap
and repressed labor.
The Aquino government is trying to attract foreign
investments by pressing down wages, contractualizing work forces and repressing
labor rights. The result is a no-win situation where unemployment is high and
workers are impoverished.
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