Labor Issues of Philippine Development During Blas Ople’s Times

Blas Ople was the key personality in the development of labor policies during the 1960s to the 1980s. Before his political ascendancy in other branches of government after the 1980s, he held the labor portfolio for the longest time. His influence extended to the present period. This essay covers the political economy of labor policies during this period. The key issue about labor market policies is how to balance the promotion of welfare and the creation of employment as the growing labor force continued to grow. External factors during this period added pressures to protect labor from the worst effects of the turbulent macroeconomic shocks. This raised the bar in welfare standards, along with the tendency to fix minimum wages and other wage supplements that tended to be out of line with market forces. Aside from wage issues, the labor policies tried to place limitations on the reduction of employment within the enterprise by requiring permits from the labor department. These policies together brought about a great deal of labor market inflexibility. These policies would make the labor market overly regulated and eventually make it more difficult to encourage the rapid growth of employment. The industrial and trade policies of the period, which focused on protection and import substitution despite efforts to liberalize them, aided the labor market policies in producing this effect on employment generation.