FOR Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, displacement of around 40,000 to 140,000 workers in the National Capital Region is too negligible for the government to worry about.
By his own admission, Balisacan who heads the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) earlier claimed that at least 40,000 workers – or 140,000 at the most, would lose their jobs because of the P35 hike in the daily minimum wage – but would not leave a dent on the inflow of investments fuelling economic growth.
The NEDA chief also warded off possible impacts of the latest wage increase, which he described as “quite reasonable” and “not really constraining” to the economy.
“Our estimates so far suggest that the national output (gross domestic product) would be impacted negatively. But it’s a very small impact, it’s just one-tenth of 1 percent. It’s very negligible,” Balisacan told reporters during a press briefing in Malacañang.
Balisacan also predicted a parallel increase in the unemployment rate – but only by a “very negligible number.”
“It could impact something like 40,000 to 140,000, depending on the industry. But still again, not as big as one would expect if those rate adjustments were much higher,” averred the NEDA, adding that workers who would be retrenched would have new opportunities to find new work because of the growing economy and labor market.
“If you lose one job there, there are other jobs being opened up. During this period, there are 600,000 plus new employment. You know, these are new jobs opened up in the economy. As our economy continues to grow at 6 to 7 percent this year, that will be accompanied by quite a lot of jobs.”
Citing the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) labor force survey showing the unemployment rate decreasing to 4.1 percent from 4.3 a year ago, the government chief economic architect then gave a premium on the government ‘s wish to improve the quality of employment – which translates to higher wages – to reduce poverty.
“If you look at the numbers, the total additional employment created by our economy was something like 605,000 workers added in the pool of employed people. And that is very encouraging because if we look further, we zoom into the data, we find that the increase in employment came from jobs opened up in manufacturing, in industry and in services,” he continued.
The P35 daily wage hike in Metro Manila will take effect on July 17.
“For so long as those wage adjustments are not too high to discourage investments, those adjustments are welcome. That should not be a worry to the business community and us economic managers.”
However, labor groups criticized the wage adjustment as an “insult” and a “disgrace” to Metro Manila’s workforce. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
