Phl urged to boost mfg, other sectors to create more jobs

MANILA, Philippines - Boosting five key sectors, including manufacturing and construction, could generate more employment and help achieve inclusive growth in the country, according to an economist.

Ateneo de Manila professor and former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cielito Habito said the country can particularly focus on electronics, food and beverage and design-based manufacturers sub-sectors.

Habito said the country’s electronics sector must shift toward the higher end of the value chain.

“Massive infrastructure push is imperative and inevitable (to boost construction),” he said in a workshop on economic policies to support inclusive growth.

Habito said public-private partnership (PPP) policy environment needs strengthening and streamlining.

The government has been implementing policy enhancements in a bid to attract more investors to pour in their money into crucial infrastructure projects, particularly through the PPP program.

He added that the construction sector can create more jobs in the country given the large unmet demand for low and medium-cost housing.

Habito identified other sectors which could drive broad-based inclusive growth, including the business process outsourcing (BPO), tourism and allied industries, and agriculture and agribusiness.

He said the sustained demand growth for the BPO is projected for long term.

“Indian firms (are) now moving into Philippines,” he said. “(BPO is also a) key driver of real property growth.”

While BPO can be a non-inclusive industry as it leaves a big part of the population behind because of the need for education, Habito noted that the sector is geographically inclusive because of its expansion in the provinces.

Meanwhile, Tetsushi Sonobe, a professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) of Japan, promoted a cluster-based industrial development in the Philippines in a bid to achieve an inclusive growth.

Sonobe said that aside from Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Bollywood, the development of most manufacturing industries in Japan, Taiwan and China are cluster-based.

He said clusters are also becoming important in South Asia.

“Localized industry gains a great advantage from the fact that it offers a constant market for skill,” he said at the same workshop. “Other advantages of clusters include division of labor and collective action.”