Philippines Unemployment drop bolsters economic optimism for 2012

THURSDAY, 01 MARCH 2012 21:16         

By: CAI U. ORDINARIO (http://businessmirror.com.ph)

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is confident that the increase in the number of employed Filipinos will boost the optimism for the economy this year.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. said data from the National Statistics Office showed that the government created more than a million jobs last year. The quality of jobs also improved as indicated in the Labor Force Survey (LFS).

"Last year the country generated more employment from the previous year. Employment level rose by 3.2 percent or 1.156 million, largely on the strength of the continued growth in services and the recovery in agriculture, although there was a slowdown in the industry sector," Paderanga said in a statement.

Paderanga also said the country has a better unemployment figure compared to the United States, which has an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent in January 2012. He explained that this is because the character of our economy is different from those of developed nations.

He added that the government's infrastructure investments this year, such as those that will be used for public-private partnerships, will also boost the economy and enable small and medium enterprises to attain "economies of scale" in their operations and therefore, hire more workers.

"Infrastructure investments will actually go a long way because when you connect the economy, then our own small businessmen will have a bigger market to look at and therefore we may start attaining economies of scale, although this means more competition among them but we think in the end it will be good for everybody that they become more productive," Paderanga explained.

Data showed out of the 61.9 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over, about 40 million were in the labor force or economically active in 2011. This translates to an annual labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.6 percent, higher than the LFPR in 2010 which was at 64.1 percent.

The NEDA added that despite an increase in the LFPR, the quality of employment remained positive last year, with strong growth in wage and salary employment which posted a 4.6 percent growth; modest growth in full-time employment, 1.5 percent; and slight easing of the unemployment rate to 7 percent in 2011 from 7.3 percent in 2010.

However, Paderanga said that while the Philippines may have fewer unemployed persons, the country would compare unfavorably to developed economies in terms of underemployment, which increased from 18.8 percent in 2010 to 19.3 percent in 2011.

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Philippines rejects China’s joint oil exploration proposal

The joint development of areas in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) that "are clearly ours is not a viable solution" to our problem with China, according to Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

As for the potentially resource-rich Spratlys group of islands, the Philippines is "open to considering joint development in the disputed areas," Del Rosario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday.

Del Rosario said that during his meeting last week with Wang Yingfan and Wang Chungui, two former Chinese ambassadors to the Philippines who were here on a goodwill visit, he "reiterated our position that we are open to inviting China in the Recto Bank as an investor to be governed by [our] laws."

The Recto Bank (Reed Bank), he pointed out, was an "integral part of the Philippines and, as such, cannot be jointly developed."

"To do so would be in violation of our Constitution," he said.

The Recto Bank had drawn China's interest several months ago when the Philippine Air Force discovered several Chinese vessels in its vicinity.

UNCLOS is the other option

As another option, Del Rosario said "we again asked if China would join us in availing of the dispute settlement mechanism under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," or UNCLOS.

He said he told his guests the government was "endeavoring to look at all means to arrive at a peaceful solution of the disputes in the West Philippine Sea in accordance with international law, specifically UNCLOS."

Apart from China's suggestion that the Philippines revisit the concept of joint development of the Spratlys, the two sides also discussed "how both nations are advancing our bilateral agenda while treating contentious issues separately, and the view that we should not accept all that appear in the press as being factual," Del Rosario said.

According to the secretary, the retired ambassadors were "very appreciative (they) came to enhance our friendship and cooperation."

Earlier, he told this paper that "their visit serves to put substance in the initiative (of China and the Philippines) on friendly visits."

During President Benigno Aquino III's state visit to Beijing last August, both sides declared 2012 and 2013 the "Years of Friendly Exchanges" between the two Asian neighbors.

Philippines should adopt Chinese Deng Xiaoping Solution & set aside fighting?

Wang Yingfan during his visit to the Philippines told a media forum organized by the Chinese Embassy that the Philippine government should consider the "Deng Xiaoping Solution" to the Spratlys dispute, which is, setting aside the territorial quarrel in favor of a joint exploration and development of the disputed waters.

Wang, who served in Manila from 1988 to 1990, stressed "it is time for cooperation, not confrontation, not fighting."

He said he had "talked with some important people in your government that we should work hard to find ways that are acceptable to both sides that we must work hard to prepare the ground so that we could share the resources together."

According to Wang, the response he got "was very encouraging. They said they would consider this kind of thinking. So with patience, with goodwill and with hard work, we could find a way out that's agreeable and acceptable to both sides.    "

Wang also advised Filipinos to "spend your energy on economic development."

He said it would be some time before the two Spratlys claimants could find a solution to the dispute.

Wang also warned the Philippines against bringing the United States into the equation, saying this would be unacceptable to China which would "certainly react" if that happened.

Wang stressed that allowing the US to meddle in the six-nation Spratlys conflict was another story. "That would make the issue more complicated and more difficult to settle among ourselves," he said.

The Philippines and China claim all or part of the Spratlys along with Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

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