|
By Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter
LABOR productivity in the Philippines stands at the low end of
Southeast Asian countries, according to the International Labor
Organization (ILO) said.
In a report titled, “Key
Indicators of the Labor Market,” the ILO said labor productivity
in the country stands at $7,271 per person employed, lower than
neighboring market economies such as Singapore, $47,975; Malaysia,
$22,112; Thailand, $13,915 and Indonesia, $9,022.
The country’s labor
productivity is higher than state-led economies, such as Vietnam,
$4,809; Myanmar, $4,541 and Cambodia, $2,853.
The United States still leads the
world by far in labor productivity.
The ILO said it found that
productivity—measured as output per person employed—in Southeast
Asia and the Pacific “was stagnant and much slower than other
regions” with an average annual increase of only 1.6 percent
between 1996 and 2006.
“Workers in the region produced
only a seventh of their developed economy counterparts,” the ILO
said.
By comparison East Asia’s
workers now produce twice as much as they did 10 years ago, the most
considerable productivity increases in the world. But this is still
only one fifth of what a worker in the developed economies produces.
In South Asia, productivity rose
by around 50 percent. Despite this, South Asia’s workers only
produces one eighth of what a developed economy worker does.
The ILO noted that the increases
in productivity is mainly the result of companies combining capital,
labor and technology better. “A lack of investment in people
[training and skills], equipment and technology can lead to an
underutilization of the productive potential of labor and so
perpetuate poverty,” it said.
According to the report, some 1.5
billion people in the world—or one-third of the working-age
population—are “potentially underutilized.” This new estimate
of labor underutilization is composed of the 195.7 million
unemployed people in the world and nearly 1.3 billion working poor
who live with their families on less than $2 per day per person.
“Development in Southeast Asia
and the Pacific has been less impressive than in East Asia.
Nevertheless, the region has profited from the economic boom in
China and India and the good economic performance of most developed
economies in recent years. However unemployment remains higher than
before the Asian economic crisis,” the ILO said.
“In order not to fall behind
other regions in terms of productivity, but at the same time, use
the potential of all those who, after the Asian crisis, have not
participated in labor markets again, it is important to find the
right balance between productivity and employment increases in years
to come,” it added.
The report said agriculture
continues to be an important source of livelihood, and around half
the workers in both South East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia
still work in that sector.
“Hundreds of millions of women
and men are working hard and long but without the conditions they
need to lift themselves and their families out of poverty; they risk
falling deeper into poverty. Releasing their underutilized
capacities by raising their productive potential must be at the top
of the international development agenda,” Juan Somavia, ILO
director general said.
Somavia said that the huge gap in
productivity and wealth is cause “for great concern,” adding
that raising the productivity levels of workers on the lowest
incomes in the poorest countries is the key to reducing the enormous
decent work deficits in the world.
|
