Trade and Employment

ILO Supports Capacity-Building in Analysing Philippine Export's Employment Impact

Underscoring the importance of better analysis and more coherent policy-making in ensuring that international trade results to decent, gainful and productive employment, the EU-funded ILO-STRENGTHEN (Strengthening the Impact on Employment of Sector and Trade Policies) Project concluded the three –part training-workshop on “Assessing the Effects of Trade on Employment: Measuring and Monitoring Output and Employment under the 2019-2021 Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP)”.

A total of 33 stakeholders from government agencies, workers and employers organizations gathered for the workshop which provided the participants an in-depth training on selected methods of assessing the impacts of international trade on domestic labour and employment. In apprising the participants on the PEDP 2018-2022, Assistant Director Anthony Rivera of the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marking Bureau (DTI-EMB) noted the importance of building stakeholders’ capacity on analysing employment impacts of trade through tools introduced during the workshop as these can result to sustained efforts in monitoring and tracking Philippines’ export performance through the lens of the ultimate goal of generating jobs for Filipino workers.

Workshop participants were guided in analysing economic flows in the Philippines, particularly on deriving the output and employment impacts of changes in exports. They were also introduced to a tool for assessing export impacts to employment using simulation exercises that focus on the sectors identified as priorities by the Department of Trade and Industry – Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) such as agribusiness, electronics, and tourism. Participants also reviewed how decent work indicators are affected by changes in trade and output, especially in the case of the export sector. Concluding the workshop was an action-planning session where participant identified the next steps which may be undertaken toward ensuring actions linked to monitoring of employment and decent work outcomes in the identified PEDP priority sectors.

The three-part training-workshop series was organized by the ILO together with the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD). The workshop series aimed at assisting ILO partners and constituents involved in the crafting of the 2018- 2022 Philippine Export Development Plan in ensuring that generation of quality employment, promotion of decent work, and adherence to labour standards are also included and incorporated, as part of the overall strategy to boost and strengthen the attractiveness, competitiveness and viability of Philippine exports.