Threatened jobs

PARIS — Flying into Amsterdam over the weekend on my way to this French capital, there were a lot of male Filipino overseas workers (OFWs) on the flight, and the animated talk was of jobs.

They came to Europe to work as cooks on commercial ships and as waiters and bartenders. The food service industry is fast replacing nursing and other health-related services as the employment opportunity of choice for prospective OFWs.

Other men chatted about jobs as mechanics, as blue-collar workers in oilrigs and heavy industries. These are the skilled workers that our local industries are losing. And who can blame them for leaving their country? Overhearing their conversations about salaries, benefits and duration of vacation leaves, I know they will never be able to make that kind of money on their skills back home.

They mostly sounded happy that jobs awaited them together with adventure in foreign lands. I didn’t hear any talk about the threat posed by a global recession on their job prospects. Perhaps the gravity of the situation still hasn’t sunk in. Or maybe it’s just the typical Pinoy’s inherently cheerful nature.

But the government does not have the luxury of a what-me-worry? attitude. Amid a global economic downturn, the government should worry not only about the job security of millions of OFWs, but also about the jobs of those in call centers and other outsourced business operations in the Philippines.

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There was heavy traffic late last Saturday night on the Champs Elysees, where stretch limos were still in abundance. A Hummer that looked — in the words of an Avis driver — spacious enough to accommodate Brad and Angelina and their entire caboodle of kids, with room to spare — was parked curbside. Around the city the crowds were out, enjoying the balmy weather.

The Avis driver said the French were more conservative in investing their money and were therefore not as hard hit as the Americans (or Icelanders) by the financial meltdown.

But France is also shaken. Next year the government is cutting an unprecedented 30,600 jobs, and plans to reduce the number of local government offices. Yesterday Nicolas Sarkozy, who as French president also holds the revolving presidency of the European Union, hosted a meeting here of Eurozone leaders to discuss a coordinated response to the meltdown.

Sarkozy has long been trying to trim the bureaucratic fat and wean his compatriots from their long-cherished entitlements including a 35-hour workweek. His efforts have contributed to a drop in his popularity. But with the financial conflagration now engulfing Europe, he has found an opportunity to make the French swallow some of his bitter pills.

The government downsizing will be implemented next year, Sarkozy announced late last month. His timetable gives an indication of how long European leaders believe the downturn will last. The estimates are similar to the assessments of organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, which warned last week of a protracted global economic slump.

What will happen to OFWs when Europe – and much of the rest of the world — downsizes? Though foreign workers may provide more value for money for employers, politicians around the globe will also be under pressure to protect local workers first. Apart from seeing OFWs being sent home, we may also see foreign investors reducing their operations overseas, including those in our country.

We can only hope companies that weather this typhoon — and there will still be many of them – will not resort to drastic downsizing, and will still find it cost-effective to retain foreign workers rather than replace them with locals. Some goods are best produced in certain parts of the world, and some services are done best by certain workers.

We can try creating job opportunities at home or encouraging entrepreneurship. This homework should have been done a long time ago, before the rise of China, and before our national dysfunction began driving away investors into the arms of Thailand, Vietnam and now even Cambodia. But it’s not yet too late to regain our footing.

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Investors who follow events closely in our country soon get the impression that a year and a half before general elections in the Philippines is not a good time to put money into new ventures or expansion plans.

A diplomat whose government was asked recently to invite more of their investors to the Philippines told me that their businessmen were adopting a wait-and-see attitude and were holding on to their money.

Their investors, the diplomat said, were concerned that business deals signed at this time could be cancelled by the next administration and even become enmeshed in scandal and litigation. Or else investors could find themselves giving fat commissions to the current administration, only to be asked for more by the next one, just to get the project off the ground. Sound familiar?

With this kind of business environment, how can we attract job-generating investments, especially at this time when the global economy is shrinking?

One hope is that our overseas workers have saved up enough to venture into small and medium enterprises if ever they are sent home. But they will need training and support in entrepreneurship, and we will have to be reminded about the advantage of buying our own products.

France’s Sarkozy has vowed that come what may, his government will ensure that French banks will continue providing credit especially to SMEs, “to prevent the economy from fatally spiraling into a long-term recession which we won’t tolerate.”

He has given those on welfare an “exceptional allowance” to cope with rising prices. He has vowed that there will be no increase in taxes, business charges or social security contributions, and there will be no austerity measures that can exacerbate the recession.

Across the Atlantic, US President George W. Bush also hosted over the weekend a gathering of industrialized nations to forge a united approach to the meltdown.

The big question is whether the global efforts will pay off quickly enough.