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Essay on Attempting to Measure Welfare in the Philippines

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“Most of the unemployed are not poor; and most of the poor are not unemployed.” If read at first this statement may seem to be absurd but it is in fact the reality that plagues our country today. For one, it is determined that unemployment brings upon the prevalence of poverty but how come would the poor in the Philippines be in fact be in the midst of the employed? Emmanuel S. de Dios and Katrina I. Dinglasan have adequately answered this baffling phenomenon with historical data and mathematical computations thus proving that “unemployment” is not an effective measure of welfare, i.e., in our country. The Philippines in its current state cannot be painted in its best picture hence it stands on unsteady grounds both economically and …show more content…

If the government will perhaps stimulate capital investments (by lower interest rates, there would be no need for low skill labor in this sector and the excess manpower derived from this movement may be diverted in other more productive means. Thus, about the last paper assignment regarding the three pronged approach to growth, I now question if the establishment of special labor employment zones would make the country better off especially now that it has been proven that poverty does not necessarily lessen with the surge of employment. Overall the rationalization that it is better for the poor to earn something than nothing regarding the special employment zone does not bode well for the country in terms of the welfare of its citizens, hence the government should do something concerning this implication. Now, what could the government do given the problem at hand? I think the government may still implement the special labor employment zones because overall it will still increase the country’s productivity but aside from that the government, I think, in the short run could perhaps do capital investments especially in the agriculture sector, such as granting this sector the use of modern day equipment that would increase productivity but at a lower cost. In lieu with the years ahead the government should better concern itself in improving its human

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