PRODUCE GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE FILIPINOS, GOV’T URGED

As the world braces for this era’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe), the Philippines must rethink certain regulations on employment and modernize social security systems to enable a generation of globally competitive talent, policy experts said.

Dr. Vicente Paqueo and Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr., research fellows of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), stressed that this candid continuation of the first to third industrial revolution would be a combination of digital, physical and biological upheavals.

As the phenomenon will “fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another,” the Philippines, as an emerging economy, is likewise at risk of its unescapable impact.

In their special study “Unlocking the Filipino People’s Potential in the Next Six Years and Beyond” commissioned by Philippine-based think tank Stratbase ADR Institute, Paqueo and Orbeta said policymakers should prioritize revving up areas of employment, human development and social security.

This way, Manila will be able “to achieve rapid and inclusive economic growth that will drastically reduce poverty and allow disadvantaged people to enjoy the benefits of economic and technological progress.”

The experts said it was time to adapt with radical advances in science and technology which were siding more on the innovation of efficient laborsaving technologies.

The phenomenon means workers will frequently move from one job to another, thus the need to be highly trainable the same way economies would also need to be more flexible.

Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbase ADRi, said that unlike its Asian neighbors, the Philippines has adopted a less competitive regulatory environment. In the past months, labor unions and their political allies have clamored for an increase in the legal minimum wage (LMW), and that the same LMWs are applied to all regions.

“Huge increases in LMWs could make the employment of workers less attractive and labor-intensive enterprises less competitive,” Manhit explained.

There are also demands to end all forms contractualization.

Ironically, Paqueo and Orbeta said “this could have unintended consequences, including an increased unemployment rate, reduce transition rate from temporary to permanent employment, and reduced efficiency in the use of human resources.”

To dodge negative impacts, what needs to be reconsidered is the replacement of job tenure with income security concepts and wage subsidies. To sustain this, there must be a mechanism to effectively assist the poor and near-poor so they may survive difficult transitions and even thrive under FIRe.