NI RHENZ SALONGA
Nagpahayag ng pagkabahala ang Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) sa patuloy na mababang kalidad ng trabaho at mataas na inflation rate na nararanasan ng mga Filipino.
Ayon sa TUCP, ang unemployment rate ay nadagdagan sa 4.8 porsiyento noong Enero mula sa 4.3 porsiyento na naitala noong Disyembre.
“Dead-ended at double figures for far too long, underemployment further rose to 14.1% in January from 12.6% in December. The situation on the ground is grimmer as poor-quality jobs, eroded incomes, and surging inflation largely remain unaddressed,” ayon sa TUCP.
At ngayong natapos ang “ber” months, maraming seasonal workers ang nawalan ng trabaho o napunta sa informal sector na walang katiyakang trabaho.
“Those still classified as ‘employed’ are trapped in precarious work which is largely either short-term contractual arrangements, ENDO jobs, low-end gig work, or worse, job-sharing/rotation schemes. These are not decent jobs whose income can sustain the health and productivity of working families. Our minimum wage earners (MWEs) are becoming a class of the permanently poor, struggling every day to eke out their bare necessities, with household spending for food impacted by a minimum wage whose real value decreased by 88 pesos per day this month in NCR (NOMINAL daily minimum wage value: ₱570; REAL daily minimum wage value: ₱482). This situation will become increasingly untenable for low-income families surviving in subsistence conditions if high inflation persists,” ayon pa dito.
Milyun-milyong mga Filipinong walang trabaho o underemployed at kanilang mga pamilya ang halos hindi matugunan ang kanilang pangunahing pangangailangan sa gitna ng hirap ng buhay tulad ng kawalan ng pagkain, bayad sa upa ng bahay at iba pa.
“The 0.1% decrease in inflation to the still-high 8.6% in February hardly makes a dent as food inflation remains elevated at 11.1%, driven by vegetable inflation at an astoundingly high 33.1%. Further, electricity inflation at 19.5% has a domino effect in bringing up the prices of all other goods and services filtering down to the final consumer,” ayon pa sa TUCP.
“Unless our economic managers address poor job quality and the inflationary environment, new entrants to the labor force will be joining the queue of millions of job-sharing workers who can never bring in nutritious food to their family’s table. Resultant malnutrition means sick workers and productivity dropping like a rock. Meanwhile, our children’s mental and physical growth is stunted, resulting in a new generation of “ENDO” workers,” dagdag pa nito.
Dapat anilang magising ang mga economic managers sa nararanasang mataas na inflation na labis na nagpapahirap sa maraming nagdurusang pamilya.
OnlineBalita news 