Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma (Screengrab from FB Live of DOLE press conference)
MANILA – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has provided inputs to the Senate over the proposed PHP100.00 legislated increase in the daily salary of minimum wage earners in the country and will be waiting for the final decision of Congress on the proposed bill.
According to Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, the agency has presented to the Senate the possible effects and possible scenarios of the proposed adjustment that seeks to benefit some 4.2 million employees nationwide.
“Meron kaming technical inputs…sana ay makatulong sa kanilang deliberasyon (We have provided technical inputs. We hope it will help in their deliberations),” he said in a press conference on Thursday at the DOLE main office in Intramuros, Manila.
Laguesma said among the possible scenarios are the effects on the employment level and on the continued operation of companies, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which comprise the majority of business enterprises nationwide.
He also pointed out that DOLE is not against the proposed measure, since they will be the ones to implement it once enacted into law.
“At the end of the day whenever a law is passed, it is our obligation to implement it,” Laguesma said.
However, he said that DOLE will still have to wait for the actions that the House of Representatives will take on the bill since they will base their next steps on the final version of the bill that Congress will pass.
Boosting employment programs
Meanwhile, Laguesma said the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) indicating a rising trend in the number of employed people nationwide has inspired the agency to further enhance its employment programs.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), preliminary results of the LFS showed that the unemployment rate in December 2023 further went down to 3.1 percent from 4.3 percent in December 2022, the lowest level since 2005,
The PSA said the number of unemployed Filipinos was estimated at 1.6 million, lower than the reported 2.22 million in December 2022.
“Ang report ay nagbibigay lakas at inspiration sa DOLE na higit pang palakasin ang implementasyon ng mga programa ng DOLE na sa tingin namin contributory or nakakatulong sa pagtaas ng bilang ng mga may trabaho (The report gives us strength and inspiration to further bolster the implementation of DOLE programs that we think are contributory or assist in increasing the number of employed),” Laguesma said.
“Nagpapasalamat din po kami sa suporta, tulong at gabay ng pribadong sektor ‘yun pong mga namumunuhan, mga business organizations at syempre po ang ating mga manggagawa at kanilang labor organizations. Dito po sa atin, ang plano ng DOLE ay patuloy ang implementasyon ng mga programa na nakabatay sa (We also thank the support and guidance of the private sector, the investors, business organizations, and, of course, the workers and their labor organizations. On our part, the DOLE will continue to implement programs based on the) Labor and Employment Plan 2023-2028,” he added. (PNA)
