Millions of Infra Jobs to Open in 2012

The Aquino administration’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects that are geared towards improving the country’s infrastructure is expected to create more jobs for Filipinos.

The Philippines’ labor scene faces a positive year as the government accelerates its infrastructure projects.

As the government’s infrastructure budget for the year has almost entirely been bidded out, the resulting construction work to start soon is expected to make available some one to two million jobs for local workers.  These additional jobs are expected to open up within the first quarter of the year, according to Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) president Edgardo Lacson.  Lacson further said that these jobs in the infrastructure sector would have a multiplier effect, allowing the labor sector to continue curbing its unemployment rate.  Construction workers can look forward to new job openings with Public Private Partnership (PPP) programs such as the Daang Hari – South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) Link Road Project which was awarded in the previous year. 

With more of these PPPs in the offing throughout the year, Lacson believes that the labor sector will overcome the seasonality of jobs.  “The challenge is how to sustain it.  I hope it is not seasonal because business would really gear up during high demand seasons like the Christmas season,” Lacson said.  Despite this increase in available jobs in the infrastructure sector, Lacson still sees a hurdle in the regulatory environment that presents laws that are becoming more stringent and restrictive.  He particularly noted the minimum wage rate and the mandatory wage increases required by the government.  Lacson explained that these requirements actually cause wage distortion.  Alternatively, ECOP has presented their recommendation for a 2-tiered wage increase policy with a floor base.    

There are some 41.2 million Filipinos currently in the labor force.  Unemployment rate is highest in the National Capital Region (NCR) and lowest at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).  Almost half of those who declared themselves jobless are within the young age range of 15 to 24 years old.  Government statistics also show that one out of ten Filipinos is forced to leave the country because of the lack of employment opportunities in the country.

Photo:  bansangpilipinas.com