Government decries WCY report that RP workers have low productivity

MANILA, Philippines – The government decried yesterday the latest assessment of the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) indicating that Filipino workers have low productivity that is why the country’s competitiveness ranking slipped three notches to 43 from 40 last year.

 “Maybe they have not interviewed the right people,” Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Lilia de Lima said in an interview.

According to De Lima, investors continue to locate in PEZA zones and the main reason for this is the Filipino workers.

 “They are saying that the Filipinos have low productivity but this is different from the feedback of the investors,” De Lima noted.

To illustrate her point, De Lima said Texas Instrument chose to put their billion dollar investment here instead of China because of their trust in the Filipino workers.

 “We have the best workers here,” De Lima said.

Likewise, De Lima questioned the proponents of the WCY because their survey was concentrated only in one city, Manila.

 “There are 135 other cities,” De Lima said. “The opinion of one does not mean that it is true for all cities in the country. They should interview others.”

De Lima said this is misleading because the result of the survey is not representative of the entire country.

In the world competitiveness survey released by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) earlier, the Philippines was number 43 out of 57 in terms of competitiveness.

Trade Undersecretary Elmer C. Hernandez admitted that the result was not good but said it was “not dreadful.”

“Depending on how soon and how well the world economy recovers, the aggregate Competitiveness Rating for the Philippines may be even higher in 2010. With the active role of the private sector in working with government agencies to improve processes in certain key agencies, we are confident that the Philippines is on its way to competitiveness recovery,” Hernandez said.

The survey showed that most of the country’s weaknesses are in the social indices brought about by the low level of economy, jobs, markets, savings, infrastructure, health, education and environment.

Hernandez agreed by saying that “joblessness is the main threat to the economy.” He said the low buying power of consumers is the reason why the market remains small.

Hernandez said infrastructure spending will catapult the country into being competitive because not only will this attract investors, it will also provide jobs to many. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio, Philippine Star