Sun.Star: Labor execs link low productivity to meager wages

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines - Productivity of Pinoy workers across the nation needs to be improved significantly to maximize their contribution to the economy and narrow the poverty gap. This was the assertion of national and local labor officials affiliated with the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) as they launched in General Santos City the Productivity Olympics 2008 themed "Improving Philippine Productivity for Competitiveness." Low productivity of workers in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) was associated partly with meager wages. Esther F. Guirao, NWPC deputy executive director, pointed out that micro to medium enterprises comprise 99.7 percent of the country's business establishments constituting 67 percent of the national total employment yet their contribution to the economy is only 32 percent. "There is really a big challenge to improve the productivity of workers in the MSMEs sector, as shown by the wide disparity between their contribution to the economy despite their sizeable figure [of 67 percent]," Guirao stressed. Other factors she blamed for the low productivity are lack of education, training, and access to technology by the workers. She said productivity of workers in large enterprises is not a problem because their employers have the capacity to provide them with skills' improvement training. Large enterprises cannot join in the productivity Olympics competition. "But as far as small enterprises are concerned, there could be a correlation between low productivity and meager wages," Guirao said. Patricia P. Hornilla, NWPC interim director for research and policy development department, said low productivity among the bulk of the country's workforce is a contributory factor to high prevalence of poverty in the country. "There is a need to improve productivity to lessen the poverty incidence, especially in the provinces. It also seemed to me that low productivity is a result of [meager] wages, thus we have [significant] poverty," Hornilla explained. NWPC is an agency under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Guirao noted the wide disparity between the rich and the poor was brought by the unequal distribution of income or wealth. Maria Gloria A. Tango, Dole-Central Mindanao director, told media that they launched the productivity Olympics to also recognize MSMEs that are promoting or instituting productivity improvement programs. There are two categories for the contest, which are the "Best in People Development" and the "Best in Business Excellence." Nominees shall be screened per region (one for People Development and one for Business Excellence each for micro, small and medium enterprises), after which they will be forwarded to the national screening committee not later than August 29 for the final determination of winners. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to award the winners, who will receive trophies, cash and use of productivity Olympics logo for publicity purposes until 2010. Tango said improving workers' productivity would augur well for business establishments in terms of efficient service or better quality products. - Sun.Star