Despite resilient economy, PHL wages stagnant, ILO reports

Southeast Asia has shown resilience amid a global economic crisis, but wages in the Philippines –  particularly in manufacturing – have stagnated, the International Labor Organization (ILO) noted in a report.

 

“Asia’s good performance is mainly due to China where wages grew at an annual rate of 10 per cent or more over the past decade,” according to the ILO Global Wage Report for 2012-2013. 

 

“... When China is excluded from the analysis, wages in the rest of Asia have stagnated in recent years and were lower in real terms in 2011 than in 2007, the year before the global economic crisis,” it said.

 

Most Asian economies, including the Philippines, have been dependent on the US and European markets – epicenters of the global economic and financial crisis, the report noted.

 

“... Emerging economies of Asia have traditionally relied on exports and cheap labor as a source of economic growth,” Sukti Dasgupta, ILO head of Regional Economic and Social Analysis for Asia, 

observed.

 

“The global economic crisis has shown the limitations of this approach. Giving workers greater purchasing power can help to strengthen domestic consumption as a stable source of demand and reduce the reliance on exports,” the labor expert said in a statement.

 

Workers in the Philippine manufacturing sector took home $ 1.40 for every hour worked, compared to less than $5.50 in Brazil, $13 in Greece, $23.30 in the United States, and almost $35 in Denmark.

 

“Given the solid economic performance of many countries in the region, this is a disappointing outcome,” said Yoshiteru Uramoto, ILO regional director for Asia and the Pacific. “So it’s not surprising that many workers are unhappy and that we are seeing labor unrest related to wage levels.”

 

Southeast Asia needs to reconnect wages and productivity to build resilience amid external factors, such as the global financial crisis, ILO urged governments. It also called for stronger collective bargaining by the tripartite to set decent wages.

 

Minimum wages, the ILO report noted, is effective in providing a decent wage floor and measure to protect low paid workers against unduly low wages. — VS, GMA News