JOBSEEKERS flock the Labor Day Job Fair organized by the Labor Department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority at the Harbor Point Ayala Mall on Wednesday. The SBMA has recorded over 150,000 workers inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, with more companies looking for workers due to the boom in the activity inside the Freeport Zone.
Photograph by JONAS REYES for the daily tribune
A day after the country commemorated Labor Day, the Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development (IOHSAD) called anew for livable wages.
This, after President Ferdinand Marcos on Wednesday directed the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards to review the pay rates in their respective areas and urged Congress to pass a number of measures, which did not include wage hike bills.
"President Marcos Jr.'s order for a minimum wage review by the regional wage boards only echoes the meager wage increases workers have endured for decades," IOHSAE Executive Director Nadia de Leon said.
"The track record of these wage boards speaks volumes about the insignificance of the wage adjustments they've approved over time," de Leon added.
According to the IBON Foundation, despite some 370 wage orders across the country's 17 regions since 1989 when wage-setting became regionalized, these adjustments have failed to keep pace with inflation, averaging a mere 1.2 percent nominal increase.
As of March 2024, the average minimum wage across all regions stands at a meager P440, barely surpassing one-third (36 percent) of the average family living wage (FLW) for a family of five, totaling P1,207.
This stark wage-to-cost-of-living disparity underscores the urgent need to address workers' demands for living wages, the group underscored.
The chronic poverty cycle perpetuated by low wages not only endangers workers' livelihoods but also compromises the health and nutrition of their families, particularly children, according to IOHSAD.
Decades of inadequate wages have entangled many Filipino families in intergenerational malnutrition, depriving them of essentials like nutritious food, healthcare, and housing.
"Enforcing a living wage is crucial in breaking this cycle of poverty and protecting the overall well-being of Filipino workers and their families," De Leon continued.
"The current minimum wages fail to provide workers the means to meet their basic needs. In reality, low wages put many families into extreme hardship where survival is a daily battle," she added
The current minimum wage in Metro Manila is P610 for the non-agricultural sector and P573 for the agriculture sector.
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