Labor, employment plan due to go before Cabinet within weeks

By John Victor D. Ordoñez

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said it is finalizing its labor and employment plan for presentation to the Cabinet in the next few weeks.

“We have finished our discussions with the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council and we got an endorsement from the body to pursue the plan,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the Post-State of the Nation Address government briefings on Wednesday.

After presenting to the Cabinet, DoLE consult with representatives from labor, employers, and government agencies that will implement the labor roadmap, he added.

The plan includes upgrading worker skills, with a focus on raising the quality of teachers and modernizing training institutions. It also details a comprehensive social protection program for workers, Mr. Laguesma told an employer conference last month.

The plan aims to narrow the gap between worker skills and employer needs through upskilling programs.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in his second address to Congress on Monday urged the government to continue working towards improving the employability of the workforce.

“The bane of the mismatch between jobs and skills among our workforce is being rectified through strengthened government-industry-labor-academe partnerships, and the continuous reskilling and upskilling training programs,” the President said.

Mr. Laguesma said during the briefing that improving and continuing upskilling programs with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and other agencies is crucial to improving the quality of jobs on offer.

“(Upskilling) is an important step toward employment gains because you cannot separate the linkage of training and employment,” he said during the briefing.

The Philippines’ jobless rate eased to 4.3% in May, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Job quality improved that month as the underemployment rate, which measures those employed who are seeking more work or longer hours, decreased to 11.7%. This was lower than the 12.9% a month earlier and 14.5% in May 2022.

Meanwhile, Mr. Laguesma said DoLE will leave it to Congress to decide on legislated wage hikes.

“We cannot encroach on the mandate of Congress, which is why it will be up to them to make a decision on the pending bills,” he said.

Legislators have also proposed across-the-board minimum wage increases for workers in the private sector, including agriculture, to help them cope with inflation.

In March, Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri filed a bill seeking to increase the minimum wage for these workers by P150.

At the House of Representatives, the Makabayan coalition proposed a wage hike of P750 for all private sector workers, including those working in special economic zones, freeports and in the agriculture sector.

Mr. Laguesma said DoLE will continue providing technical advice to legislators while they decide on wage increases.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines has said a legislated wage hike should also consider workers in less formal employment, noting that private-sector workers only make up 16% of the labor force.

On June 29, the National Capital Region Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved a P40 increase in the daily minimum wage, bringing the daily minimum wage to P610 a day from P570 previously.

The hike also increased the minimum wage to P573 for agriculture and service retail establishments with 15 or fewer workers.

Every wage order approved by a Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board must be approved by the Labor Secretary. Wage boards can only act on wage petitions a year after a region’s last wage order.

Labor groups have called for a review of the wage-setting process since many workers are still living in poverty even after the wage hike.

“As far as (DoLE is) concerned, we will continue to do our share in trying to address the need of workers to have a minimum wage adjustment until the existing mechanisms are either abolished or amended,” Mr. Laguesma said.