Policy Issue
Over the years, the creative economy1 has emerged to be a vital driver of economic growth globally, which currently represents approximately three percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) (UNCTAD 2022), with predictions suggesting this share could triple by 2030 (Shapiro 2024). This upward trend reflects the 20 percent increase in trade of creative goods between 2010 and 2020, together with the growth in export of creative services in the same period (UNICEF, 2020). In the Philippines, the creative economy reached Php 1.72 trillion equivalent to 7.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)2 and employs 7.26 million people.3 Among the top subsectors of creative industries in terms of economic gains, symbols and images account for the biggest share of 31.5 percent (Php 541.75B), followed by advertising, research and development for a 22 percent share, and digital interactive goods and services activities with a 21 percent share. To strengthen the support for the country’s creative industries, Republic Act No. 11904, or the Philippine Creative Industry Development Act (PCIDA) was enacted in 2022. PCIDA also mandated the creation of the Creative Workers’ Welfare Committee, where the Department of Labor and Employment is a member, to ensure that creative workers, especially those engaged in the freelance and non-standard forms of employment, have access to sustainable and dignified working conditions in the industry.
While creative industries play a vital role in the country’s economic growth through trade of goods and services, a significant portion of the workforce in its various subsectors remains vulnerable to precarious work arrangements and unfair working conditions, including freelancing jobs, both digital and non-digital in nature. The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the film and audiovisual workforce to freelancers, accounting to at least 1.5 million self-employed individuals who provide services for films, broadcasting, live events, and advertising.4 In a study published by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in 2022, it was revealed that 47 percent of Filipino online workers are engaged in creative and multimedia tasks, and workers in the creative industry experienced the same issues as platform workers, relative to their unstable work arrangement and lack of social protection.
This paper is generally intended to examine how social dialogue mechanisms can be harnessed in promoting decent working conditions for freelance workers in the creative industries in the Philippines. It specifically aimed to: 1) identify the challenges and opportunities of workers in the broadcast media and theater under the freelance and contract working arrangements; 2) examine existing social dialogue mechanisms in support of policies and programs in the creatives industry; 3) determine good practices as basis for policies and programs to promote decent work for freelance workers in the creatives industries; and 4) recommend policy options apt in promoting decent work for freelance workers in the creatives industries.