“THE steady rise of joblessness in the Philippines belies the Aquino administration’s claims of achieving inclusive growth.”
This is the statement of Kabataan Partylist Terry Ridon on the July 2013 Labor Force Survey released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) today.
According to NSO’s latest figures, unemployment in the country has risen from the 7.0 percent recorded in July 2012 to 7.3 percent in July 2013, which translates to over 4.7 million individuals.
“While the government continues to hype up the country’s economic growth, which they claim to be one of the fastest growing in Asia, joblessness in the country continue to worsen. This is a fact that proves that the so-called economic boom benefited only the wealthy, while the welfare of the vast majority of Filipinos have taken a turn for the worse,” Ridon noted.
The latest NSO figures reveal that almost half of the unemployed or 2.3 million belong to the age group 15 to 24 years, with a large bulk comprised of young people without college degrees.
“The future looks bleak for the youth under the Aquino administration. Not only is it difficult to finish college these days owing to the spiralling cost of tertiary education – there are also no jobs available for our youth, especially for those who were forced to drop out of school,” Ridon said.
The youth legislator also noted the staggering 10.9 percent unemployment rate in the National Capital Region, which – when coupled with the recently-approved P10 minimum wage hike in Metro Manila – reveal the worsening plight of workers in the metro.
“It’s a double blow against workers: Apart from approving a meager 10-peso minimum wage hike that barely keeps up with the staggering prices of basic commodities and services, the government has also literally failed to curb unemployment and has even worsened the situation. Where’s inclusive growth in that?” Ridon asked.
According to independent think tank IBON Foundation, the P10 increase in the NCR minimum wage which takes effect in November barely keeps up with rising prices. “the resulting Php466 mandated minimum wage is still less than half (44%) of the required family living wage (FLW) for decent living preliminarily computed to be about Php1,051 as of August 2013,” IBON noted.
“The worsening joblessness in the country is a result of the Aquino administration’s continued reliance on foreign investments for job creation, instead of focusing on internal job creation through national industrialization and genuine agricultural development.”
“This only reveals the Aquino regime’s continued kowtowing to the dictates of foreign investors, instead of focusing on uplifting the welfare of majority of Filipino workers,” Ridon said.
The post Steady rise of PHL unemployment busts myth of inclusive growth – Kabataan Partylist appeared first on Remate.