DOLE prioritizes Decent and Productive Work at 2012 Development Policy Research Month
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through its policy research and advocacy arm, the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), is pushing for Inclusive Growth through Decent and Productive Work at the 2012 Development Policy Research Month, to be held nationwide, this September.

“The DOLE works towards increasing the levels of opportunities for, and access to, decent and productive employment. We cannot overemphasize how crucial the role of policy research in achieving this goal,” said DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz.
Under the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan 2011-2016, the focus of the plans for the next five years has been anchored on Inclusive Growth through Decent and Productive Work. This plan was developed by DOLE together with its stakeholders from the labor unions, employers, civil society, and migrant groups, and government agencies whose mandates impact on labor and employment.

“The Department joins the nationwide celebrations for the Development Policy Research Month and support this year’s theme, as it reiterates the Department’s goals of achieving higher and inclusive growth for the country,” emphasized Baldoz.

With the theme, “Regional Economic Integration and Inclusive Growth: Engaging Nations, Embracing People,” the Philippines will celebrate the Development Policy Research Month (DPRM), which is now on its 10th year. The yearly celebration of DPRM was first instituted in 2002, whose aim is to increase public understanding and discussion of various policy issues and researches that are integral to national development.

“Our goals of developing policy and programs promoting decent work, cannot be achieved without substantive policy research that will support policy formulation, planning and decision making that promotes employment, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue,” said DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz.

In celebration of the Development Policy Research Month, the DOLE though its Inter-Agency Committee on Research Matters, will be holding a Technical Learning Session on Policy Brief Writing on September 27-28, 2012. Likewise the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) will be joining the DPRM exhibit lead by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, where research papers on employment, trade and migration will be distributed for free, for early visitors at their booth.

“The DPRM month-long celebration offers and presents a good opportunity for the Institute to present and make its policy researches and studies more accessible to the public, especially students, academics, researchers, policy experts and social advocates who have great interest in development issues, particularly with regard to labor, employment and social concerns in the Philippines,” Executive Director Cynthia Cruz of the Institute for Labor Studies.

This year’s DPRM theme stresses the importance of fostering regional economic integration as one of the strategies of the country in achieving inclusive growth. Further, the said theme also emphasizes the pivotal role of free trade and free markets in the context of increased economic cooperation among member-countries and economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The 2012 month-long celebration of DPRM this September will also center on important development issues such as trade and investments and labor and migration, among others.

The Institute for Labor Studies is the lead agency of the DOLE Inter-Agency Committee on Research Matters. The Committee consists of research teams from the DOLE’s attached agencies and bureaus. The Committee has developed the DOLE Research Agenda 2011-2016, which consolidates research plans and programs of all DOLE agencies and bureaus in support of the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan 2011-2016, towards the promotion of decent, productive and gainful employment.

(For more information on this press release please contact Mr. BRYAN BALCO, Labor & Employment Officer III, Advocacy & Publications Division, Institute for Labor Studies, Telephone Nos.: 5273490 / 5273447)
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