𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗠𝗡: "Provide fair wages, control price hike " by Sherie Jane H. Rodulfo and Abigail Job F. Alla

Published by: Angel Pelleja

Date Published: October 10, 2023

Time Published: 10:37AM

In our country, the Philippines, workers having a low salary is a normal struggle for everyone. It has been an issue inside the country for many years now. As data compiled by e-commerce platform Picodi, it was revealed that Philippines' average wage is among the lowest in the world as of August 2020 as Philippines ranks 95th out of 106 countries when it comes to average wage that stands at $308 or P15,200 [1].

Hardworks, effort, and dedication of our laborers will likely go in vain if they keep on receiving such a low salary, contrary to the current prices of the daily necessities. Prices and salaries should be balanced. How is it going to be balanced when the salary of our laborers can't even afford all of the necessities?

The data compiled by e-commerce proves to us that "𝘔𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘴𝘢 𝘗𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘴' just like many Filipinos are saying. It is due to the struggles each employee is experiencing. Laborers could not even receive a salary thatLet's take Jerry Gutierrez, a construction worker as an example of this situation. Jerry Gutierrez earns around 600 Philippine pesos a day in Metro Manila yet he and his wife cannot afford a supply in a household such as rice and eggs [2]. This situation of Jerry proves to us that the minimum wage that our government gives is not enough to sustain the needs of a worker, especially that most of them have a family to feed and raise. they deserve to get despite all of their hard work and efforts. Buying simple essential goods is one of the challenges for them because budgeting a salary that's low is hard.

With all of this, we can already see and realize that our country gives a low minimum wage when it comes to our dear laborers. 500 to 537 pesos salary for a day—that specific amount of money is not even enough to sustain the everyday needs of a household such as food, rice, and all the daily necessities. In addition to that, all the prices that we buy are increasing because of the continuous rise of inflation.

One of the main pros when raising a wage is the improvement of the overall standard of living of a minimum wage worker [3]. Moreover, the main cons of raising a wage is the increase of operating expenses [4]. Based on this, we can see that the pros side will benefit a lot of people from raising the minimum wage of a laborer. It ensures and improves the standard living of someone, by increasing the minimum wage they would be able to meet all of the basic necessities.

 Even though minimum wages increase depends on the regions here in the Philippines, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should ensure a just and equitable salary to our laborers as a reward for all of their contribution that they make to each industry. This will not only provide them with fair compensation, but also improve their living conditions and contribute to the economic growth of our country.

In a country wherein all the prices of the goods, and necessities that we buy are now increasing yet the salary is barely increasing, it is really hard to survive especially for those who are unfortunate and who lives in a way of 𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘨, 𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘶𝘬𝘢. Let the voices of our laborers be heard. Give the laborers a salary that they deserve.

REFERENCES:

[1] Cabuenas, J.V. (2020, August 27). Philippines among countries with lowest average wage | GMA News. https://www.gmanetwork.com/.../philippines-among.../story/

[2] Beltran, M. (2023, April 5). Philippine workers seek hike in minimum wage amid inflation | Nikkei Asia. https://asia.nikkei.com/.../Philippine-workers-seek-hike…

[3] Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. (2020). Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States (6th edition). https://itep.org/whopays/

[3] Maverick, J.B. (2023, September 24). What Are the Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage? | Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/.../what-are-pros-and-cons…

[4] Maverick, J.B. (2023, September 24). What Are the Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage? | Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/.../what-are-pros-and-cons...