‘Inflation persists as workers’ burden’

HIGH inflation will persist in the new year and compound the suffering of workers who are even now reeling from a lack of quality employment opportunities, a labor group said on Tuesday.

With this, jobseekers are facing a bleak employment outlook in 2023, the group added.

In a statement on Tuesday, Partido

Manggagawa (PM) said the high inflation rate, which already reached 8 percent last month, is expected to continue to make it difficult for workers to make ends meet, especially with meager minimum wage rates.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier said the high cost of living may continue until early 2023.

“High inflation would still be a problem which would widen the gap between an average workers’ wage and the cost of living not only in Metro Manila but in most regions outside of Luzon where wages are somewhat low compared to Metro Manila but inflation is high,” PM chairman Renato Magtubo said.

The labor leader also expressed concern over the high number of underemployed workers or those people wanting more hours of work, which rose to 6.67 million last Oct. from 5.62 million in the same period last year.

PM said this “translates to more than a million Filipinos working as casual, contractual or informal in 2022.”

“While small businesses were slowly recuperating, formal and informal workers continued bleeding from wage and income erosion, job losses, and a fall in employment quality,” it noted.

Magtubo said the prospects of small businesses and workers are made worse by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s failure to disclose his labor agenda.

“Both [small businesses and workers] are far from recovering next year because of the above challenges,” Magtubo said.

PM and other labor groups have been pushing for the government to grant their proposed P100 nationwide across-the-board legislated increase and a comprehensive employment road map to ensure decent working conditions for employees in the coming years.

Earlier this month, the government economic managers announced the approval of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

The plan includes boosting support for micro enterprises and skills training so workers will have better employment opportunities.