Filipinos are more likely to take on multiple jobs these days to offset low income and high prices, said the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (Eiler). About 81 percent of multiple job holders in 2007 were permanently employed while 47% were self-employed in their primary occupation according to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES).
There were 3.1 million multiple job holders in 2007 across all industries. About 2.5 million of these were permanently employed. Sixteen percent or 480,000 were in short-term, seasonal or casual employment.
“Walang silang pahinga. Tuloy-tuloy ang kayod para lang masustine ang pagkain at iba pang pangangailangan ng pamilya,” (They don’t rest. They work continuously just to meet expenses for food and other basic needs of the family) said Anna Leah Escresa, programs officer of Eiler, Inc.
Escresa cited multiple job-takers especially in the garments sector, where women workers are forced to take on home-based subcontracting jobs after work from the same factory they were employed to make ends meet. “These multiple jobs are taking their toll on the health of the workers.”
Multiple job-holders among skilled and unskilled workers total some 902,000. About 41.9 percent of these are women, the biggest proportion of women with multiple jobs compared to other sectors.
“Women workers are even worse off than their male counterparts because of the huge gap between real wages and family living wages,” noted Escresa. In the National Capital Region (NCR) alone, the real value of the minimum wage is atP240.86 pesos as of July 2008. A family of six needs 911 pesos per day as of August 2008 data from the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC).
Despite the recent easing of oil prices, inflation is expected to average between 9 and 11 percent this year, a sharp climb from 2.8 percent in 2007 according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Eiler said the government should immediately heed the workers call for substantial wage hikes which the sector direly needs to cope up with rising prices.#
