ECOP airs fears on move for new wage increases; Cites figures showing decreasing employment

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and other members of the business community aired fears yesterday over the agitation for new wage increases, saying these could jeopardize the survival of the companies and their workers.

ECOP President Donald G. Dee said that based on an employment survey conducted by ECOP in the first quarter, the employment for regular and rank and file employes went down by 0.4 percent last February to 29.738 million from 29.857 million in January, then down again in March by 0.40 percent to 29.603 million.

Dee said the survey also showed a decreasing employment rate for non-regular employes (seasonal, contractual, and temporary).

The aggregate employment rate for non-regular employes was 12,850 per 100,000 in Jauary, then down to 12,272 in February, then further down to 12,019 in March.

“These developments point out the difficulties facing business today,” Dee said. “With the economic crunch coupled with an adjustment in minimum wage rates, business may not risk on building up their inventories, especially during the Yuletide season, the time of the year when the demand for products surges as consumers go on a buying spree.”

He noted that with such a scenario, economic activity during the remainder of the year could be sluggish and thus hiring of contractual workers would also be in a slump.

Statistics indicate, it was noted, that as of 1999, only 35 percent of wage and salary earners were employed in business establishments where a higher level of education and skills is needed, while 46 percent are non-wage workers whose lack of or inadequate education and skills consign them to the marginalized sector.

Dee argued that mandated wage increases instead of benefiting the entire labor force, such as the informal sector and the unemployed as well as the unorganized and unskilled workers employed in small enterprises, will lead to more unemloyment as it will lead to the closure of many companies.

Wage and salary earners who worked in the private sector numbering 11,888,000 constituted 41.02 percent of the 28,980,000 total employed in 1999, ECOP said. –Manila Bulletin