Mar Roxas: How About 2 Million Jobs A Year? Here's How

MANILA: He is my candidate for President, and that's final.

This time, I'm interested in more jobs than he promised every year. And I want to help him create those million additional jobs. It has something to do also with information technology and how the Filipino is tops when it come to working with computers, codes, content and communication.

On 28 February 2016, Mar Roxas promised to generate at least 1 million jobs yearly if elected President (Paolo Romero, The Philippine Star, philstar.com). He was referring to jobs in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry – the Philippines is the outsource of getting the job done in virtual time and space – and the garments industry. In a little while, I'd like to show how that figure can easily become 2 million jobs a year.

Last year, it was predicted that the BPO industry in the Philippines will bring in $25 Billion this year, 2016, from $18.4 Billion in 2014, according to ANN (Author Not Named, 03 December 2015, "7 Facts and Forecasts: The BPO Industry in the Philippines," USource, usource.me).

The BPO industry, which include call centers, is already employing more than 1 Million Filipinos, ANN says. In 2010, instead of India, the Philippines became the top destination of BPO firms because of its having:

(1)     Scalable, educated talent pool

(2)     A proven track record

(3)     Cost-competitiveness

(4)     Excellent infrastructure

(5)     Adequate government support for the industry

"Scalable" means "able to expand to cope with increased use" (Collins English Dictionary); what I understand is that our pool of educated talents can be increased, widened and deepened if necessary.

A "proven track record" means we Filipinos have already shown the world that we can deliver what we promise or what we get paid for. For at least the last 6 years.

"Cost-competitiveness" means we Filipinos are willing to receive not-so-high professional fees compared to BPO workers in other countries. It's the lower cost of living here.

"Excellent infrastructure" means we have the policies, systems and buildings, hardware and software to get things done. We owe those to the encouragements from Mar Roxas when he was Secretary of Trade & Industry and when he became a Senator.

"Adequate government support for the industry" means we have laws and policies that encourage companies investing in the BPO industry in this country whether foreign or local.

So, let the good times roll! We nourish the BPO industry all the more.

As I have already written in an earlier essay, among the 5 presidential candidates, only Roxas has the Vision and Mission to make a good President (12 March 2016, "Considering Mar Roxas," Vices, Presidents, blogspot.com). Precisely, the promise of creating 1 million jobs a year is his Vision; his Mission is to move government and the private sector to make that dream come true – and everyone earn what they deserve.

Meanwhile, Mar Roxas is also worried about contractualization.

McDonald's invented contractualization of workers in fast-food restaurants (ANN, undated, Sentro, sentro.org). Other fast-food chains have followed suit, including the Filipino Jollibee food chain. Contractualization means relatively low salaries, few benefits and no security of tenure. McDo has made contractualization so notorious that a low-paying job is called a McJob by Merriam-Webster's, Random House Wester's and Oxford English (ANN as cited).

Says ANN:

In the Philippines, Jollibee, the country's top fast food restaurant, is likewise notorious for its low pays and routine use of "endo" – acronym for "end-of-contract" workers with short-term and unprotected work arrangements or also called "5-5-5" scheme in which workers are endlessly hired and fired every five months to prevent them from becoming permanent or regular workers.

If you are terminated after 5 months, you are not entitled to fringe benefits or whatever, because you have worked only for so short a time. The company does not have to pay for SSS, health insurance etc. Which adds to the income of your former employer.

The big companies want big profits at the expense of their workers. I don't know how they can live with that. To end contractualization, as Mar Roxas promises, is merely to give what is due to the workers. If private industry does not take care of their workers, the government will force them.

Mar Roxas' Vision is 6 million jobs in 6 years and 0 (zero) contracts that are unfair to workers. Nobody should be forced to work for 5 months under contract, and then goodbye – no SSS, no health insurance, and no renewal of contract. It's a take-it-or-leave-it arrangement: If you don't like the pay, you don't apply, and the employer has no worries at all on the labor supply: there is a long line of young ones willing to work for slave pay.

But the bigger worry of Mar Roxas has always been jobs other than in fast-food chains, and this is in creating millions of jobs in the information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industries (senate.gov.ph).

The BPO has been the biggest job maker in recent years, creating more than a million jobs in the past several years. If you pay more attention to it, it can create a million jobs a year.

So, I am including in this pitch the virtual career (VC) professionals, also called virtual assistants, inspired by my son Jomar's quest for more computer-knowledgeable and home-based office staff employed globally but working locally. The number of virtual careerists could run in the million a year if given government support in terms of infrastructure and computer systems. A VC homeworker could be working for an individual or company anywhere in the world and earn some $25/hour without leaving home while working at one's own pace. All a VC needs is a laptop, a printer, a desk and WiFi connection, which the government can provide in terms of loans. The VC works at home. (The above image is from Answers, answers.com but posterized by me.)

Can we afford all that? The Philippines is capable of double-digit growth, according to the IMF (Lawrence Agcaoili, 02 March 2016, The Philippine Star, philstar.com).

So, easily, Mar Roxas can promise 2 million jobs a year given added support to the call center industry and the home-based IT-enabled virtual staff industry.