Aquino’s economics not working for workers

Malacañang can sneer at the recent SWS survey showing that the country’s unemployment has worsened, but the government can never elude a simple fact—its economics is not working for the working class!

The SWS survey merely proved what the trade unions and civil society have been saying all along: The spectacular economic “growth” is not redounding to the benefit of the majority poor. On the contrary, what we have is “immiserizing growth”—an ironic situation where growth causes further misery; a theoretical situation first proposed in 1958 by Jagdish Bhagwati, an Indian-American economist.

Why? Because President Aquino and his economic team have merely continued the economic policies of the previous administrations—a market-oriented policy that emphasizes privatization, deregulation and liberalization, which has miserably failed to generate much-needed jobs—quality and decent jobs.

Worse, the Aquino administration is even bent on destroying jobs through its privatization program, which includes the public health sector, and through its drive to sell electric cooperatives to profit-motivated corporations. Thousands of workers in the public sector are threatened by the privatization of several public hospitals. In the Philippine Orthopedic Center  alone, more than 900 could lose their jobs through privatization. The thing is, at least 26 other public hospitals are on the chopping board. This is aside from further depriving the poor and indigent patients from availing of either free or “cheap” but quality medical services. Meanwhile, at least 25,000 jobs are threatened by the National Electrification Administration’s corporatization drive in the electric cooperative sector.

The Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa  believes that to solve the country’s intractable poverty, full employment should take center stage in government’s policy-making. This means that all policy instruments—fiscal, monetary, investment, trade and development policies—should have job creation and job preservation as its goal.

In short, what is needed is an alternative development paradigm. Sadly, the current Philippine Development Program is sorely lacking in imagination, as it seems to merely provide a slightly updated version of the same old neoliberal prescriptions.

Government has to step up the development of an active agroindustrial policy that would pave the way toward full employment. Joblessness cannot be solved by relying heavily on the services sector and the business processing outsourcing; in fact, last October, services workers accounted for a huge 53.4 percent of those who were employed. Indeed, good quality jobs could be generated from a strong industrial base, particularly manufacturing, and a vibrant agriculture—old but reliable “success formula” proven throughout the world. These growth drivers could ensure quality employment—meaning jobs with job security, respectful of workers’ rights—and provide mandated benefits.

—JOSUA MATA, secretary general,

Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at

Progresibong Manggagawa