MESSAGE OF SECRETARY BALISACAN Opening of the 2012 National Productivity Convention Theme: “Productivity and Decent Work: Building Blocks to Competitiveness”
The government’s vision, as set out in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016, is for a rapid, sustained and inclusive growth. Our experience in the recent past has shown us that this is not a walk in the park, and this does not happen as a matter of course. Rather, we need to develop and implement coherent policies and programs, including labor policies and programs, in order to achieve this.
Improving and sustaining competitiveness is the key to rapid and sustained growth. To a layman, competitiveness refers to the ability to compete in the factor markets, in the labor markets in particular—being able to stand up against other workers, or against other products, as the case may be. The World Economic Forum, on the other hand, defines competitiveness as “the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity…”
In 2011, the Philippines ranked 75 out of 142 countries, in terms of competitiveness. This year, we have moved up to rank 65, out of 144 countries. As reference, we should note that our neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are ranked 50, 27 and 38, respectively. We aim to be among the top one-third of countries and this means moving up at least 27 notches.
Competitiveness ranking is based partly on the quality of governance, and this is being addressed. In fact, with respect to this factor, the Philippines has improved 31 notches. But we are not complacent and we will continue with the reforms necessary to boost our rankings.
The factor that continues to pull down our ranking is “labor market efficiency.” The challenge is to be able to improve on this but not at the expense of ensuring decent work and social protection for all. This, to me, is the essence of inclusive growth—that every able-bodied person is able to contribute to growth and everyone enjoys a decent quality of life, even those who have to labor and those who, for one reason or another, cannot be able to participate in the labor market.
Labor market efficiency and decency of work need not be at odds, if labor productivity is high. We will continue to invest in the public inputs necessary and, at the same time, create an environment that encourages private investment to increase labor productivity. By these, we mean investing in health and education, skills training, technology and innovation, infrastructure, as well as promoting structural economic transformation that permits the generation of high-quality employment in the dynamic sectors of our economy.
We need to create an environment that improves labor market efficiency, thereby improving competitiveness, expanding high quality employment opportunities, especially in the industry, promoting workers’ welfare, and ending poverty once and for all. This is a big challenge but we hope to learn from your inputs in this convention. Even beyond this convention, we hope we could count on the support of the business and labor sectors to help us develop the necessary mix of policies and programs. We know our desired outcomes – high labor productivity and decent work for all. If we are able to attain these, then we will have achieved our goal of a rapid, sustained and inclusive growth.
M.R. No. 2012-073
17 October 2012
