Title:
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The impact of the new international division of labour on ASEAN labour : the Philippine case
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This thesis measures and evaluates the impact of the integration
of Philippine labour into the international labour market, by
studying three prototype structures of this integration, namely:
the export processing zone, migration of contract workers and
subcontracting of domestic outwork. The evaluation is on two
levels: first, whether the integration since the early 70s has
significantly improved the levels of employment, wages and
skills, and second, whether there are prospects of further growth
in these variables. This study also evaluates the impact on the
trade union movement and on employment of women.
Theoretically, for a labour-surplus economy, linkage with the
international factor market should increase the levels of the
above variables. However, there is evidence that this is not
necessarily so and that such linkage may prove costly in the
long run.
In addition to aggregate data obtained from various agencies,
three community-level surveys were undertaken for this study.
Each of the three structures studied shows varying degrees of
significance of effects on the levels of employment, wages and
skills, and on trade unions and employment of women. On an
Overall level however, there is a pattern. Employment generation,
if measured in terms of the regional, sectoral and industrial
objectives of the structures, has been significant. But on the
aggregate level, this is still far short of effecting full
employment. Consequently, real wage levels in general have
remained on a downward trend, although for the individual workers
the gains are substantial, especially for the migrant workers.
Viewed as a process, the linkage means a series of access for
capital to cheaper sources of labour, particularly of women and
domestic outworkers. The level of skills acquisition has not
been significant and no loss of skills is indicated. Prospects
for further growth in employment, wages and skills appear limited
with the possible decline in demand for Philippine labour in the
face of developments in the world market and the competition from
other labour-surplus Asian economies. Finally, there has been a
weakening of the trade union movement in general and a progressive
recourse by management to employment of women as alternative
source of cheap labour.
Although the findings show a mixture of benefits and costs arising
from the integration into the international market, it is
recommended that an evaluation of this strategy be made in the
light of changing world market and ASEAN regional conditions.
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