CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 5 percent of GDP during the period under review: rising from 6.2 percent of gross national income in 1997 to 8.1 percent in 2000 (BLES 2002 and WB 2003). Impact of Labor Migration 69. While labor migration contributes to the Philippine economy, it exacts a heavy toll on society. More than ever, it is eroding certain Filipino values, such as the paramount importance given to family unity and the role of parents in shaping the character of their children. The migrants continue to face various problems in their countries of destination: nonpayment of salaries, and contract violations, to illegal detention and physical and sexual abuse, and the consequent psychological and emotional distress caused by separation from their families. They are also vulnerable to politics that can result to their expulsion, as experienced by Filipino migrants in Sabah, Malaysia in 2002. 70. The government has expended considerable efforts and resources to address these problems. It has set up welfare centers, undertaken bilateral negotiations with receiving countries, and lobbied for policy reform and programs for migrant workers at international forums. The Philippines has figured prominently in international and regional discussions (as in the UN, ASEAN, APEC) involving migration and trafficking in persons. It has likewise led in advocating programs and projects to heighten awareness on gender and development issues through training and capacity building for pertinent personnel in ASEAN and APEC. 71. Labor migration remains an attractive option to many workers, as the employment situation deteriorated during the period. Between 1999 and 2000 alone, the labor force participation rate dropped from 66.4 to 64.9 percent, due to perceived lack of job opportunities that discouraged people from looking for jobs. Employment in Agriculture, Industry and Service Sectors 72. About one million jobs were lost in agriculture between 1996 and 2000, although 80 percent of these were recovered in 2001 (NSO 2002). Despite the resurgence recorded in the agricultural sector, the Philippines continues to move away from agriculture. From being a traditional net foreign exchange earner, agriculture had ceased to be a net earner by the 1990s. Natural disasters and low world prices for agricultural products combined to erode the potentials for growth of Philippine agriculture. Further, it continuously absorbed a continuously declining share of employment. In contrast, services remained the most important sector that contributes significantly to the Philippine economy and where women outnumbered men in terms of employment. Industry accounted for at least a third of the GDP, but its share of employment was a far third from services and agriculture. Reports of the labor department on employment in industry indicated that prior to the crisis, 889 establishments, involving 39,263 workers, resorted to closure and retrenchment. This almost tripled to 2,258 in 2000 affecting 67,624 employees. Small establishments (with less than 50 workers) were hardest hit, as they comprised half of those that retrenched workers or shut down (BLES 2002). Unemployment rate rose from 7.4 percent in 1996 to 9.6 percent in 1998, 10.1 percent in 2001 and 2002. Except in one or two years, female unemployment rate has been consistently higher than that of the male (NSO 2003c). 73. To address the persistent economic problems, the government convened in December 2001 the National Socio-Economic Summit, which forged an executive and legislative pact focusing on 31