The Quality of Philippine Labor Ranks

"Young men of the Philippines work, work hard. You have nothing to lose but your poverty." This quotation from a noted Filipino economist reinforces the central importance of labor in eradicating poverty in the Philippines.

Poverty is the social malaise that continues to corrode the quality of life of most Filipinos. But the hardship that it brings has induced the birth of new heroes who have steadfastly raised a gallant fight against the menace. Let us dissect the situation that presents the issue to the fore.

I. The Anatomy of Philippine Socio-Economic Health

Once considered a premier economy in Asia, next to Japan, the Philippines cascaded to be one of the tail-enders in the regional economic race. Socio-economic hardship has become a vicious phenomenon that hurts national pride.

The Philippine economy grows at an average of 5% annually. Yet, despite this gain, about 30% of the population wallows in poverty. Real family income has failed to rise above the inflation rate, a situation freezing purchasing power, and the poverty headcount, at alarming levels. The Philippines is saddled with the persistent problem of a growing socio-economic gap, where the poor becomes poorer and the rich becomes much richer.

The mandated daily minimum wage is about US$ 7.64 a day, or US$ 198.64 a month, based on 26 working days. With a monthly poverty threshold of US$ 244.00 for a family of five, it is clear that the people's fruits of labor fall short by US$ 45.36 to meet their basic needs and free them from the bondage of poverty.

What compounds the underpaid status of the Filipino worker is that not all able-bodied and willing members of the labor force can work. Present day opportunities for gainful employment in the Philippines are scarce, with unemployment running at 7% of the total labor force. Underemployment, which chalks a high rate of 20% of the labor force, is another bitter seed of poverty.

II. Emergence of Labor-Dependent, Self-Driven Strategy

Although government development efforts and pronouncements cast some iota of hope, people cannot wait because their compelling basic needs have to be immediately addressed. The pains of hunger, lack of livable shelter, financial incapacity for children's education, and deficient health care access appear to have become unbearable. Forty million Filipinos (46%), out of the total population of 86 million, see themselves as poor.

This untenable socio-economic situation has produced a new breed of labor heroes: individuals and organizations that have been sticklers of vision, initiative, focus, industry, and humility. They worked doubly hard on their goals, ignored start-up pains, limitations, and barriers, and adopted ingenious ways in the conduct of productive labor. The brilliance of their examples illuminated others to follow what they have done.

III. Who's Who in the Philippines' Labor Hall of Fame

Who are the unrecognized heroes in the Philippine labor ranks?

Let us identify these heroes, and give them a fitting recognition by describing what they have done, and are doing, to champion the cause of labor as an escape route from poverty and as the single road to sustainable comfort for Filipinos.

1. Informal Sector Workers and Service Operators

Unable to find formal employment, either due to lack of education, skills, and experience that make them non-competitive, these Filipinos are those who chose to work on their own as independent, self-employed, and low-capital producer of goods and services.

These modern-day heroes include pedicab and jeepney drivers, neighborhood store sellers, sidewalk hawkers, snack stand owners, fish ball vendors, ice cream peddlers, plastic bottle collectors, small junkyard operators, restaurant helpers, part-time cooks, manual laundry service providers, construction workers, street cleaners, and landless peasants.

The contribution of the informal labor sector cannot be relegated to secondary importance. The sector employs about 70% of the labor force, with a combined output representing no less than 40% of the country's GNP of US$ 145 Billion.

To further accentuate the heroic importance of the informal sector workers, the key question is: What will happen to the Philippine economy if their 40% GNP contribution is taken away from the national income account? The answer is crystal clear: the more the Philippine economy will be groggy and the life of most Filipinos in shambles.

What makes the contribution of informal workers outstanding is that they have braved the challenge of socio-economic deprivation even with their subsistence income. Through the power of relentless savings, many of them have gone a long way now -- established, stable, and with academically accomplished children.

2. Overseas Filipinos, including Oversea Filipino Workers (OFW)

These Filipinos are an essential part of the community of new heroes. The Philippines is now the world's largest exporter of workers and professionals, with about 3,300 Filipino workers leaving the country daily to seek lucrative and stable employment future in other countries.

No less than 8 million Filipinos live and work abroad, 3 million as immigrants and 5 million as workers of permanent and temporary job assignments. Most of them regularly make financial remittances to their families in the Philippines. The annual total volume of remittances coming in to the Philippines from overseas Filipinos is US$ 16 Billion, a whopping amount that represents 11% of the country's Gross National Product (GNP).

Again, as an acid test: What will be the socio-economic impact of removing the 11% GNP contribution of overseas Filipinos from the national income account? How would the local situation look if the 5 million overseas workers were to work in the Philippines instead? The evident answer is a pathetic and disjointed quality of life for a much greater number of Filipinos.

3. The BPO Industry Practitioners

Next to India, the Philippines stands as the world's second biggest provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT services. As of 2007, this industry had a total workforce of 300,000 employees, generating US$ 13 Billion in revenues and making 9% contribution to the country's GNP.

Seventy percent (70%) of 300,000 industry employees works in more than 100 contact centers. Many of these employees are undergraduates; but because of their intrinsic skills in the English language and close affinity to the US, they have found gainful employment in an industry where even non-degree holders are welcome. Initiative, persistence, and productive disposition are the common attributes of the BPO workers in the Philippines.

Credit must also be given to the local and foreign capitalists who had invested in the BPO opportunities even during the formative stage of the industry. Had it not been for their enterprising move, it could have been an enormous opportunity loss for the country and for Filipino labor. The industry has remarkably grown to the point that it will need no less than 600,000 employees in the next three years.

4. The Philippine Retail and Wholesale Practitioners

The explosive growth of retail and wholesale trade, which includes fast food, convenience stores, mall restaurants, gift and specialty shops, drug stores, and other service franchises, including wholesale businesses, is another monumental accomplishment in the enhancement of labor in the Philippines. Businesses in this industry, usually adopting the chain store distribution model, employ about 5 million employees or 18% of the country's labor force.

Like the BPO industry, the labor heroes of the retail and wholesale trade sector consist of entrepreneurs (capitalists who provided the financial and managerial factors of development) and regular and contractual employees (individuals, mostly undergraduates who provided cheap labor for the business to run). It is the healthy fusion of investment mobilization (entrepreneurs) and low level need satisfaction (employees) that expanded the industry's revenues to about US$ 14 Billion, or 10% of the country's GNP.

5. The Non-Profits and Other Labor Cause-oriented Groups

Non-profit organizations and labor unions that have spent dedicated involvement in the enhancement of employment utilization, security, compensation, and standards have to be recognized as labor heroes. The sustained vigilance and militancy of these organizations in creating labor awareness, empowering workers, helping communities of underprivileged labor, and lobbying for appreciable improvements in local labor conditions cannot be ignored.

Had it not been for their crusading stance, abusive, unfair, and illegal labor practices could not have been mitigated. The assertive and visible presence of cause-oriented non-profits and unions in the Philippine had served as a check valve against worker oppression and exploitation.

6. The Philippine Government

Despite its performance shortfalls, the Philippine government, all branches included, must be cited, at least for having consistently worked in upholding the interest of labor. In the local front, legislative agenda, judicial decisions, and executive actions are notably pro-labor, usually in favor of giving redress to the underprivileged worker.

In the promotion of overseas labor interest, the Philippine government has a well-organized system for processing, motivating, and protecting migrant workers, including running an active Philippine labor promotions program.

The socio-economic profile of the Philippines is not highly attractive, but she is similarly situated with many other countries across the globe. Poverty is a global problem. And the Philippines had found an antidote against it - her resilient and productive community of labor heroes.