PH needs to boost productivity of workers

MANILA — Instead of raising the minimum wage, the government, employers and workers should work on improving the productivity of employees.

“I guess the solution is not only to increase the minimum wage but to try to make the workers be skillful because they should be able to adopt to new schemes and processes at the work site,” Bienvenido Laguesma, former Labor secretary, told ANC’s Inside Business.

“But I hope there could be more focus on productivity because this can spell the difference in providing better terms and conditions for our workers,” Laguesma, who served as a cabinet secretary under the Estrada administration, continued.

Lawrence Jeff Johnson, director at the International Labor Organization Office for the Philippines, recounted the skills mismatch of workers is not only a problem for the Philippines but also in most parts of the world.

“This is a global problem. We know how economies move throughout the world and the pace of change is rapid. The government’s role is to help ensure the workers have the education and we see with the new K-12 system, that’s a start in the right direction,” Johnson told ANC’s Inside Business.

Johnson said the Philippine government’s efforts on working toward creating a balance between providing higher minimum wages and encouraging productivity at the work place has been fruitful.

However, like Laguesma, he said there should be greater push toward improving productivity among workers.

“The issue is how do we get to that level [of high economic growth] so we need to get decent and productive employment that’s sustainable,” Johnson said.

“I think the biggest weakness here is we need to ensure that we match up skills; we need to make workers understand how to be more productive,” he added.

For that, Johnson said businesses should think about investing in their workers because increasing their productivity translates to higher sales.

“Workers having the right skills are important,” Johnson stressed.” –Kathleen A. Martin, ABS-CBNnews.com