Several ASEAN countries have raised their minimum wages or will do so in the near future to adjust salaries to the rising costs of living and to provide the population with higher purchasing power. However, businesses and investors claim that the wage hikes were a blow to competitiveness and would make setting up new businesses…

UNEMPLOYMENT grew in the third quarter, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in a new report, reversing a steep fall seen three months earlier. Underemployment surgesSharp drop in jobless rateJobless rate eases to 7.2%2.72M Filipinos jobless in Oct.- survey

GENEVA – Around 222 million women in developing countries have an unmet need for voluntary family planning, a United Nations report said Wednesday. Making voluntary family planning available to everyone would reduce maternal and newborn health care costs by 11.3 billion US dollars annually, according to the “State of World Population 2012” report released by…

NEW YORK – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday called family planning a human right, and emphasized the economic benefits family planning can have for the greater society.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has proposed the creation of a high-level inter-agency body to monitor investigations involving cases of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. On Thursday, De Lima said she came up with the idea of creating a “superbody” against human rights violations following her recent visits to Washington and Geneva in Switzerland.

Sitting on a picnic blanket in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park with fellow Indonesian domestic workers on a Sunday in October, 34-year-old Arida is holding back tears. Moneylenders have demanded she turn over almost all her HK$3,740 ($483) monthly salary to pay debts totaling more than $5,000 that she incurred finding a job, she says. When…

A HIGH-ranking United Nations (UN) official on Monday said that the Philippines needs strong education politicians to improve the quality of education.

THE Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from dropping four party-list groups and disqualifying them from joining the elections next year.

Workers across the European Union are staging a series of protests and strikes against rising unemployment and austerity measures. The Day of Action and Solidarity calls on leaders to address growing social anxiety and abandon austerity measures. Some 40 groups from 23 countries are involved in Wednesday’s protests.

Merchandise exports in September jumped by 22.8 percent from the previous year, making it the highest monthly export growth in almost two years. Data from the National Statistics Office showed that the September export growth, a reversal from the 27 percent drop during the same month last year, was the highest since December 2010’s 26.5…

Manila, Nov. 14 (CNA) A Philippine labor official said Wednesday his country may stop allowing people to work as domestic helpers in Taiwan, following disagreements on who should cover payments required for the workers.

THE INFLOW of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Philippines plummeted by 83% in August this year. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is hoping a total FDI inflow of $1.2 billion for 2012. That’s low in comparison with the average FDI the Philippines has received in the last 11 years, approximately $1.5 billion, and…

The amount of migrant-worker remittances passing through informal channels tops those passing through the banks by a wide margin, estimated at some 30 percent to 40 percent by the Asian Bankers Association (Aba). This was revealed at the conclusion of the meeting of Aba member-countries held at the Shangri-La Hotel on Tuesday, in which issues…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is one of the top five most burdened nations in terms of tobacco use, according to a study conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). But the country has succeeded in erasing its “negative image” in the international and local health community, which was created by its perceived support for…

MANILA, Philippines – An estimated 1.7 million Filipinos are hooked on drugs, with 1,700 of them dying each year due to their addiction, a Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) official said yesterday. DDB executive director Benjamin Reyes told the House committee on dangerous drugs that the 1.7 million represents an increase of 200,000 from the number…

MANILA, Philippines – Patients with hearing disabilities can now enjoy better services in government hospitals. The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday launched the first Filipino Sign Language (FSL) module in an effort to provide more efficient medical services for patients with hearing impairment.

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday from implementing its decision disqualifying four party-list groups from the midterm polls in 2013.

THERE IS a huge disparity between the promise and the reality. President Aquino would usually announce the promise of more foreign direct investment (FDI) every time he arrived from abroad. Yet, foreign direct investments, the type that lead to more factories and modern farms, and consequently, more decent-paying jobs, have yet to come — two…

FOREIGN BUSINESS chambers want the government to make its Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL) “less negative,” claiming that little has been done over the last two decades to open up protected sectors.

A NOTABLE increase of patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was recorded by the Department of Health (DOH) in September.

ABU DHABI // Appeals for Filipino domestic staff in the UAE to be paid the minimum wage required by their government are being ignored. Recruitment agencies say that even if they sign deals agreeing to the minimum wage, it is employers, not agents, who pay the salaries. And many employers say the US$400 (Dh1,470) a…

Filipino household workers in the Emirate of Dubai will soon receive a minimum salary of US$400 a month, according to the Department of Labor and Employment. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz made the annnouncement after the signing of a joint statement of commitment between Philippine licensed recruitment agencies and their counterparts in Dubai.

The education sector in the Philippines and the rest of Asia is taking on a greater role in addressing unemployment and other labor market issues region-wide via curriculum upgrades, academe-industry collaboration and research.

Demand for construction workers was expected to remain strong over the next two to three years, estimated at 280,000, up from 250,000 in 2011. SINGAPORE: The demand for foreign workers is projected to increase significantly in Singapore by 2030 with the rise coming primarily from the health, household and construction sectors.

Blame the rise in criminality nationwide on the new crime reporting system of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and not on the failure of the police to thwart criminality.

TAGUM CITY, Philippines–Two small-scale miners were killed after a gold mining tunnel collapsed in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur on Saturday, police on Monday said.

“The world’s budget English teacher” can be found in the Philippines, according to a report by BBC News published on their website Monday. While students from all over the world can get their language education from the United States, the United Kingdom, or Australia, more and more are heading to the Philippine shores because of…

GOVERNMENT CENTER, PALO, Leyte, November 12 (PIA) – The Civil Service Commission has recently launched the Contact Center ng Bayan conceived to be the government’s main helpdesk where citizens, civil society organizations and other entities can voice their concerns with government agencies and gain access to information.

LOCAL RECRUITERS have inked an agreement with counterparts in the Emirate of Dubai to ensure the rights of Filipino domestic workers, including a wage floor, a Cabinet official said yesterday.

Managing a call center will not go down in the history books as one of the easiest jobs in the world. Dealing with high turnover, rude people on the other end of the line and crabby employees is not exactly the most tantalizing option for employment.