CITING data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Partido Manggagawa (PM) yesterday stressed that minimum wage earners may indeed be considered as “poor.”
In a statement, PM Chairman Rene Magtubo said the government can no longer deny that minimum wage earners and their families are considered working poor.
“The latest poverty statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority show that families with a minimum wage earner as a breadwinner live below the poverty line,” said Magtubo.
“We are a nation of working poor despite the hard work and perseverance of our workers,” he added.
The labor leader pointed out how the PSA pegged the poverty threshold in Metro Manila at P15,713 monthly income.
On the other hand, he said the monthly income of a minimum wage earner in Metro Manila is P14,190 when computing P645 by 22 working days a month.
“This falls below the P15,713 poverty threshold in Metro Manila, according to the PSA,” he said.
“It is a scandal that the minimum wage, which is a floor supposed to protect workers and their families, fails to rise above the poverty threshold,” added Magtubo.
He said data from the PSA serves as another proof that the workers will need the P150 legislated wage hike.
The Senate passed the P100 wage increase bill last February, while the P150 pay hike proposal remains pending in the House of Representatives.
“We continue to call for a legislated across-the-board wage hike of P150 to recover the lost purchasing power of workers nationwide,” the PM head said.
“There is the urgency of a P150 legislated across-the-board wage hike for all workers,” added Magtubo.
