Roberto R. Romulo
Philippine Star

The last time I wrote about this subject I said that “it’s about time the private sector weighed in on the important topic of labor mobility.” Well, they have; and in the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in particular, wherein I represent the Philippines together with Doris Magsaysay Ho and Arthur Ty, there has been a sea change in attitude toward labor migration.

Sometime in 2005, Mexico tried to bring the issue of labor migration to the consciousness of the Asia-Pacific top businessmen appointed by APEC Leaders to ABAC, which advises APEC Leaders of business sector views on regional cooperation.  Initially the subject did not elicit much enthusiasm, and I must confess I, too, was highly skeptical that the issue would go anywhere.  Enter Philippine ABAC member Doris Ho, CEO of Magsaysay Shipping, who has made a successful business model of recruiting and training Filipinos to fill the gap in the global service industry particularly in shipping and catering.

Last year Doris made a professional and impassioned plea to ABAC to give some attention to labor migration. She said that while much progress has been made in facilitating the flow of goods, capital, and technology in the world, the movement of people – without which none of these tools of globalization could be combined to create wealth – remains subject to a host of restrictions.  Serendipitously, as if to demonstrate the universality of the issue, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) at Korea PECC’s initiative, had also identified international labor mobility as one of its signature projects.  In short order, ABAC and PECC joined hands to undertake a study of the issue and draft recommendations for further action.

Labor mobility: A fact of life

The PECC-ABAC study has been completed and it offers very interesting and significant conclusions. The first is that the movement of workers – skilled and low-skilled as well as professionals – is going to be a fact of life. Demographic changes in the region (and indeed in the world) have seen a decline in the workforce in high-income economies as aging becomes more pronounced, while the opposite is occurring in many low-income countries where more people are entering the work force than those who are retiring or are coming of age. This has led to dramatic growth in demand for managers and professionals – particularly health workers. But now there are pressing needs for bus drivers, welders, sheep shearers, butchers, oil drillers  and the like that in some economies are reaching crisis proportion. This is the result of not just the sheer lack of people, but also of natives opting out for other jobs. This explains the presence of Filipinos in places as extreme as the hellish deserts of Saudi Arabia and the frozen wastes of Siberia.

Restrictions or long-term solutions?

The second conclusion is that while this flow of workers is becoming inevitable and increasing in scope and magnitude, the prevailing government and popular mindset continues to be rooted in emotions and traditional perceptions. This has led to policies aimed at restricting the numbers and the rights of temporary migrants rather than at developing long-term solutions to respond to the reality of labor shortages. This is particularly true for low-skilled workers.  The report found that within the net labor-receiving economies “there is debate between those who want the number of temporary skilled workers increased to cover skill and labor shortages and those that perceive them to be driving down work conditions and displacing or replacing potential native workers”.

Many governments now — at the prodding of business — have been adopting or considering temporary migration policies.  But to appreciate the challenge, one has only to look at the fact that the tightening of immigration policies has been a key voter issue in the US, Australia, Japan and many other economies, despite business representations to the contrary. The fear is that the pendulum seems to be swinging towards preventing immigration rather than managing it strategically to meet labor supply imbalances. In the US the preoccupation has been with policies relating to undocumented migration and enforcement against illegal entry while skirting around the issue of reforming legal admission categories. John McCain and Barrack Obama are both struggling to find a middle ground between not alienating America’s significant migrant communities and triggering anger with blue collar workers in sunset industries. Nicholas Sarkozy won the French Presidency on a platform that included tough immigration policies.

Need for regional cooperation

The third conclusion is that developing smart migration policies that benefit both labor-surplus and labor-deficit economies can be enhanced by regional cooperation.  The main challenge is to overcome perceptions and prejudices that prevent such policies from emerging. Until robots can be developed to take the place of humans just like in the movies, the only alternative for countries and governments is to import workers just as they import goods and technology they are short of. It is a slow process that, as the report says, “Requires a fuller understanding of labor migration and their importance to national economies and regional integration”.

This understanding can only be accomplished through research and dialogue which the study believes can best be done at the regional level. Data and analysis of regional flows, benefits and adjustment challenges can be done through coordination at the APEC level. A compilation of best practices in how governments and business cope with these challenges and develop win-win situation for origin and destination economies would be very instructive in dealing with such issues as enhancing remittance flows, promoting beneficial practices like circular migration, reducing transaction costs, providing legal protection, and facilitating good social relations between migrants and the local community, among others.

RP’s place in APEC agenda

From a Philippine perspective, the findings of the PECC-ABAC labor mobility study are of such significance that our policy makers and business leaders should look at it seriously for at least two reasons:

First, it is instructive from the standpoint of clarifying our labor migration policies and strengthening our migration management institutions. Just to demonstrate the ambivalence of our policies and institutions, President Arroyo is alternately excoriated for not looking after workers enough and for regulating them too much.  There is still a debate going on as to whether the huge presence of our “kababayans” in all corners of the globe is a source of shame or of national pride. Yet, clearly, perspectives and attitudes have changed. We should make full use of what experts are now calling the “demographic dividend” while at the same time ensuring that the development dimensions of labor migration are maximized.

Secondly, the study is useful in developing a strategic regional response to this phenomenon. This can begin with President Arroyo herself bringing this to the attention of her peers when she meets with them in Lima for the APEC Summit in November . Before that happens, however, our Senior Officials and Ministers should make a case for including this in APEC’s work agenda next year. They can do this by shifting the debate away from the emotive issue of abuses and exploitation in the originating economies to one focused on the fact that this is a challenge also for the destination economies, and therefore requiring collaboration from both sides to effectively respond to.

Through this process of changing perspectives and generating regional cooperation, I believe the President can realize her goal of making Filipino labor migration a matter of choice rather than necessity, and a source of pride rather than a sign of economic malaise.