Labor groups call PSA survey results “illusory”
MANILA – The job crisis is real. This was how NAGKAISA looks at the government’s pronouncement that things are getting better for the country’s workers.
In a statement, the labor coalition said it is true the unemployment rate fell between July and October 2020. “But the 8.7 percent unemployment rate reported for the last quarter of 2020 is an illusion,” they said.
Employment remains low and compared to the same quarter last year, the number of employed workers is lower by 2.7 million. The current employment level is also less than the number of employed workers in July by almost 1.5 million which “does not resemble recovery at all.”
They said except for self-employment and employees in family-owned business or farms, the number of workers across classes remains lower than last year and even in July. They pointed out wage and salary workers is short by 2.6 million compared to last year and compared to its level in July, it is lower by 54 thousand.
Demand is supposed to recover because of the Christmas season but the economy remains weak and “there is not enough demand in the market” with firms failing to recover from losses.
“If October and July labor indicators were any indication of the performance of the government’s current approach to the pandemic and the crisis, then it is as if economic managers were not working at all,” NAGKAISA Chairperson Atty. Sonny Matula said.
NAGKAISA said their members have been calling for bigger stimulus and more effective approach to the pandemic and has remained “more valid than ever.” They called for bigger spending on public employment programs and wage subsidies for firms with effective management of the pandemic will definitely steer the economy to real recovery.
They underscored the need to create jobs, keep workers safe and ensure families have income to spend for the holiday season and beyond.(
NAGKAISA Chairman Atty. Sonny Matula. (File Photo/Melo M. Acuna)