Core
Business World 10 August 2015
Professor Noel de Dios, my colleague at the UP School of Economics, correctly pointed out some errors in the July 8th 2015 article, “We’re losing the war against unemployment.” I have no excuse for the obvious misreading of some labor numbers.
However, my commentaries are intact.
The true labor picture would have been grimmer if the joblessness situation in Western Visayas, specifically Leyte, were not excluded in the 2014 and 2015 numbers.
As most careful observers of labor statistics know the 2013, 2014 and 2015 labor numbers are not, strictly speaking, comparable to the numbers in earlier years.
On Noel’s final note, I still believe that the joblessness picture would be worse if the OFWs were to return in one big wave.
It is reasonable to assume that a mass exodus of overseas Filipino workers back home would jolt the domestic labor market.
It is reasonable to assume that not all OFWs would find better if not equally decent jobs at home when they return without displacing employed Filipinos.
In the extreme case that all returning OFWs are able to find equally decent jobs at home without crowding out those who are presently employed, it is reasonable to assume that it would depress wages.
Put simply, higher labor supply, combined with relatively unchanged labor demand, would definitely lead to lower wages.