THE International Labor Organization (ILO) will team up with the government to come up with statistical guidelines to measure green employment nationwide, for implementation this year.
In an interview with BusinessWorld, ILO Green Jobs National Project Coordinator Gwyneth Anne Palmos said that they are working with local governments units and concerned government agencies to come up with the statistical measurement for green jobs or the Green Jobs Survey.
“We will come up with a system to measure green jobs as our support. The ILO, at the global level, has guidelines for coming up with a statistical system so we’re applying it to the Philippines,” she said.
The Philippine Green Jobs Act of 2016 defines green jobs as “employment that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment, be it in the agriculture, industry or services sector. Specifically, but not exclusively, this include jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity, reduce energy, materials and water consumption through high efficiency strategies, decarbonize the economy, and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution. Green jobs are decent jobs that are productive, respect the rights of workers, deliver a fair income, provide security in the workplace and social protection for families, and promote social dialogue.”
The ILO project is in line with the Philippine Green Jobs Act of 2016, which also requires the development of statistics on green jobs. As stated in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the said law, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), in partnership with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), Technical Educations and Skills Development Training Authority (TESDA), Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (ChEd), Department of Science and Technology (DoST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Department of Finance (DoF), to produce a database on green employment.
The database will be vital for the creation of the “Green Jobs Human Resources Development Plan” which will outline how to create a greener economy among businesses and provide incentives to establishments and enterprises who adjust to greener initiatives.
Regarding ILO’s accomplishments so far, Ms. Palmos said: “The work is still ongoing. We just finished the development survey questionnaires both for establishment and households and then we intend to do piloting early this year.”
After the pilot-testing, the national scale-up of the Green Jobs Survey will be attached to PSA’s labor force survey and establishment survey. — Gillian M. Cortez
