Suchergebnisse

Digitalization has created new forms of work and work arrangements. While online work offers economic opportunities, it also raises issues in ensuring decent work. As such, the government is increasingly paying attention to the welfare of online workers and the challenges they face. To understand the policy environment shaping online work, this study examines existing and proposed laws in the Philippines and various initiatives relevant to online work using Heeks' overlapping domains of decent work as an organizing framework. It also discusses the issues surrounding platform work, particularly the vagueness of the employment status of online work, which complicate access to social protection and other benefits, as well as tax contribution. Recommendations are provided to help in the formulation of policies and programs that will benefit online workers. These include updating existing social protection programs to accommodate various types of online workers, collaboration between education and training institutions and public-private partnerships to equip online workers for employment, collection of data on the digital economy to guide government programs, and greater social dialogue between the government and stakeholders to improve working conditions of online workers.

This paper reviews the Philippines' participation in services trade agreements to date at the multilateral (WTO GATS), regional (ASEAN and dialogue partners), and bilateral levels (PJEPA and PH-EFTA FTA). It also discusses the government's institutional arrangements for trade in services negotiations. To harness the benefits of FTA participation, the report suggests judicious exercise of policy space in binding commitments, involving private sectors earlier in the cycle of services negotiations, clarifying and delineating roles of government agencies, and capacitating private sectors and MSMEs to engage in trade in services more actively, increasing market opportunities for the country. The first step towards strengthening the governance structure would be to consolidate negotiations in one agency instead of the current setup where the lead coordination role is split between two agencies depending on the trade partner and scope of the agreement. Additionally, a network approach to services and a whole-of-economy approach can strengthen the private sector engagement to take full advantage of international trade.

This paper examines how digital platforms work and reviews their impacts across different sectors. We look at the experience of the Philippines and other countries focusing on e-commerce and ride-hailing/delivery service platforms. Government-initiated platforms and applications in agriculture were also discussed. The review of the literature highlights the various positive and negative effects of digital platforms in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic development. The emergence of various digital platforms and the technologies that drive them will continue to shape our economy and society in ways that we cannot yet fully anticipate. How well we manage the risks and exploit the opportunities will largely depend on finding the appropriate role of the government in the platform economy and the quality of regulatory governance.

The services sector is composed of a diverse range of services, including retail and business services, education, and health, among others. Some services are used as inputs in production, while others have direct impacts on human capital development. In the Philippines, the services sector accounts for 60 percent of gross domestic product and almost 57 percent of employment. Across regions and subsectors, however, the contribution of services varies. Using a simple shift-share technique, this study examines the patterns at the regional and subsector level and decomposes the changes into three factors: national share (growth effect), industry mix (sectoral effect), and regional shift (competitive effect). Focusing on changes in employment, the shift-share decomposition reveals that the overall growth of the economy from 2012 to 2018 had a positive impact in all sectors and regions. However, some industries showed negative sectoral effects, namely, accommodation and food service activities; arts, entertainment, and recreation; and education. Industry-specific factors in education services were quite strong that the economy's dynamism failed to offset the industry mix effect. It was the only sector that registered lower total employment during the period. In terms of the regional shift effects, 109 out of the total 204 regional service industries (53%) displayed locational disadvantages. Shift-share is a purely descriptive tool, and further analysis must be done to explain the factors that influence sectoral changes and a region's economic potential and constraints. As services are critical for production, human capital development, and, more broadly, in the enhancement of the quality of life, understanding the drivers or inhibitors of services growth and addressing the locational weaknesses in the relevant service industries will be useful in promoting growth in the region and a more balanced economic development for the country.

Digitalization has created new forms of work and work arrangements. While online work offers economic opportunities, it also raises issues in ensuring decent work. As such, the government is increasingly paying attention to the welfare of online workers and the challenges they face. To understand the policy environment shaping online work, this study examines existing and proposed laws in the Philippines and various initiatives relevant to online work using Heeks' overlapping domains of decent work as an organizing framework. It also discusses the issues surrounding platform work, particularly the vagueness of the employment status of online work, which complicate access to social protection and other benefits, as well as tax contribution. Recommendations are provided to help in the formulation of policies and programs that will benefit online workers. These include updating existing social protection programs to accommodate various types of online workers, collaboration between education and training institutions and public-private partnerships to equip online workers for employment, collection of data on the digital economy to guide government programs, and greater social dialogue between the government and stakeholders to improve working conditions of online workers.

This paper examines how digital platforms work and reviews their impacts across different sectors. We look at the experience of the Philippines and other countries focusing on e-commerce and ride-hailing/delivery service platforms. Government-initiated platforms and applications in agriculture were also discussed. The review of the literature highlights the various positive and negative effects of digital platforms in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic development. The emergence of various digital platforms and the technologies that drive them will continue to shape our economy and society in ways that we cannot yet fully anticipate. How well we manage the risks and exploit the opportunities will largely depend on finding the appropriate role of the government in the platform economy and the quality of regulatory governance.

This paper reviews the Philippines' participation in services trade agreements to date at the multilateral (WTO GATS), regional (ASEAN and dialogue partners), and bilateral levels (PJEPA and PH-EFTA FTA). It also discusses the government's institutional arrangements for trade in services negotiations. To harness the benefits of FTA participation, the report suggests judicious exercise of policy space in binding commitments, involving private sectors earlier in the cycle of services negotiations, clarifying and delineating roles of government agencies, and capacitating private sectors and MSMEs to engage in trade in services more actively, increasing market opportunities for the country. The first step towards strengthening the governance structure would be to consolidate negotiations in one agency instead of the current setup where the lead coordination role is split between two agencies depending on the trade partner and scope of the agreement. Additionally, a network approach to services and a whole-of-economy approach can strengthen the private sector engagement to take full advantage of international trade.