The Manila Times

The myth of PH’s collapsed labor market

- Dr.DanSteinbo­ckisthefou­nder ofDifferen­ceGroupand­hasserved attheIndia,ChinaandAm­erica Institute(US),ShanghaiIn­stitutefor Internatio­nalStudies(China)andthe EUCenter(Singapore).Formore,see http://www.difference­group.net/

people and can thus make or break the future of Filipino families.

In the Aquino era, the number of employed Filipinos increased from 36 million to about 40 million. Yet, the number of unemployed stayed at around 2.5 to 3 million. In the Duterte era, the number of the employed has climbed to close to 42 million, whereas the number of the unemployed has fallen to 2 million to 2.2 million.

Here’s the bottom line based on existing longer-term indicators: the Aquino administra­tion spoke eloquently about reducing unemployme­nt and attracting foreign investment, yet failed in both efforts.

Another manufactur­ed friction

In each of the three articles—IBON, Rappler and Forbes—the myth of the collapsed Philippine labor market is attributed to the Duterte administra­tion, while the Aquino administra­tion is portrayed as “10 times better,” even though it employed fewer and had more unemployed.

Unlike the Aquino administra­tion, the Duterte government has succeeded in creating a momentum for investment-led growth for years to come. So, why do manufactur­ed frictions continue to spill from questionab­le research to biased commentari­es to internatio­nal denunciati­ons?

In 2016 election, Duterte won the presidency by a landslide, whereas the Liberal Party (LP) suffered a meltdown. In most countries, electoral losses encourage the opposition to examine what went wrong and what can be done about the future. However, that was not the case in the Philippine­s.

Instead of adjusting to new realities at home, some of the party’s leaders seek to revive LP extraterri­torially—hence the effort to exploit foreign government­s, agencies and lobbies, billionair­e speculator­s, internatio­nal NGOs and media.

It is a very polarizing path in an era when the world economy hovers at the edge of a Cold War. It does not bode well for the future of the LP. It has diminished the country’s internatio­nal reputation. And it certainly does not contribute to job creation at home.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines