Wages in the Country Could Improve Following the Passage of 3 New Laws

The Department of Finance (DOF) has affirmed that Filipino workers will soon benefit from higher pay without the need to raise the minimum wage after the Foreign Investment Act (FIA), Public Service Act (PSA), and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA) are all passed into law.

“Medium to long term, the passage of the amendments to the FIA, Public Service Act, and the RTLA will help bring in more capital, generate more employment [and possibly better wages without having to raise the minimum wage], and make the economy more competitive,” said Gil Beltran, chief economist at the DOF.

“The recent signing into law of the amendments to the RTLA is a welcome development towards better economic recovery and ultimately better employment opportunities.”

Based on data presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the number of unemployed individuals in the country dropped in November of last year down to 3.16 million as restrictions started to ease. This has been the lowest figure to be recorded since the outbreak of the global pandemic, accounting for a joblessness rate of 6.5% which is significantly lower compared to the 7.4% of the previous month.

As the economy started to recover, over 1.65 million jobs were created in November, according to the DOF. The agriculture sector, specifically fishing and aquaculture, logged the highest increase in employment accompanied by the industry and services sectors. Hotels and restaurants, which have been among the hardest hit due to the current circumstances, also experienced a spike employing 1.5 million Filipinos.

In contrast, however, underemployment surged by 8.13% to 7.6 million individuals. This is particularly due to the fact that Filipinos are looking for additional wages. “Dahil hindi pa talaga stable ‘yung operation ng mga companies, talagang may mga sektor pa tayo na mataas ‘yung underemployment rate,” explained PSA chief Dennis Mapa.

(“Because the operations of companies aren’t really that stable yet, we really still have sectors with high underemployment rates.”)

Sources: BusinessMirror, CNN PH