An immediate P100 wage hike is not the way to go, according to Joey Concepcion, Go Negosyo founder and private sector lead on jobs.
“I have my reservations… It is not what everybody can afford. We should remain focused on creating more jobs rather than increasing wages all of a sudden,” Concepcion told PTV Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon program, adding some large companies may be able to grant the increase.
Concepcion said past administrations increased wages gradually and over time. “No one did an immediate increase of P100,” he said.
Coming from the pandemic, and just bouncing back, businesses that can still barely survive will be affected by a sudden, one-time wage hike, said Concepcion.
“Let’s not wreck the momentum,” he said. The government “should not implement a P100 -wage hike in one go but rather implement it slowly over time.”
“If done over time, I think a wage increase is manageable,” he added. “Let the discussions continue, we all have collective bargaining agreements.”
All large corporations are expanding, he said, pointing out what the country needs is a “good economy to increase wages.”
The more jobs created, the better as the demand for jobs means the economy is working, he noted.
But he noted the need to reskill and upskill workers so they can have better pay down the road.
Agriculture is one challenge the country still faces, Concepcion said, pointing to the Big Brother approach as one way to hurdle the challenge.
Big agriculture companies can lease land from the government, bring in small farmers, and mentor them to be more productive. Big companies have the capital and small farmers can provide the labor and expertise.
Concepcion mentioned the stand of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) that instead of a nationally legislated wage increase, the government should liberalize food imports by reducing the tariffs on rice from 35 percent to 10 percent, and abolishing or vastly expanding the import quotas for corn, chicken, pork and fish.
Meanwhile, Enunina Mangio, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in a statement yesterday said Congress should let the
National Wages and Productivity Commission and Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards decide on wage increases rather than legislate a bill that would only benefit a few and disenfranchise other members of the labor force.
“The P100 proposed wage will not even be enough when inflation goes up. Why don’t we instead legislate measures to address the rising cost in food prices and other issues that hamper our economic growth,” Mangio said.
Mangio added that the move would shun away foreign investors from doing business in the Philippines.
“No one would ever try to look at the Philippines once they see that legislators can enact wage hikes anytime even disregarding the authority of the National Wage Board,” she added.
Mangio also stressed that Senators did not even consider nor listen to the position of the employers and the business community.
