DAVAO CITY – Jhonward, 16, and Mae, 22, are both new graduates who work at a burger joint here.
Jhonward said he started working last May to “gain experience”.
“My shift starts at 10pm and ends at 6am,” Jhonward told Davao Today on Wednesday.He said he spends all his earnings, which is P150 per day, only for himself.
“And part of it goes to my savings for college,” he said, adding that he plans to take up a course on Information and Technology.
Meanwhile, Mae, who is a graduate of Hotel Restaurant and Management course and works for eight hours, said her salary is “enough for now because I don’t have a family of my own yet.”
She said P30 pesos of her daily salary goes for the allowance of their youngest sibling who is in high school.
But Mae and Jhonward are not certain how long they could hold on to their jobs because they did not sign a contract.
A data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority show a drop in the country’s unemployment rate of 6.4% in April from 7% last year. According to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), 495,000 more Filipinos were employed, reducing the number of the unemployed to 2.7 million.
However, Kilusang Mayo Uno said the drop in the unemployment rate is “unsustainable and is not a cause for celebration for the Filipino workers and people.”
Elmer Labog, KMU chairperson, said the drop in the unemployment rate “is fueled by the construction sector”.
“We saw many roads and public structures being “repaired” in time for the summer season and in time for the election season. We believe that politicians are undertaking these construction projects in order to pocket kickbacks for their campaign kitties for the 2016 elections,” he said.
Labog said jobs in the country’s construction and services sector highlight the lack of decent jobs in the country.
“They are temporary, low-paying, and some of the most dangerous in the country. Surely, the Filipino workers and people deserve jobs that are better than the ones currently on offer in these sectors,” Labog said.
KMU said they suspect that “statistical magic” is at work in the recent employment figures, “because the Aquino government wants to project a Philippines experiencing economic growth in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting which will be hosted and chaired by the Philippines in November.”
“The survey’s release could have been timed to counter reports that the country’s so-called economic growth has slowed down in the first quarter of 2015,” Labog said. (davaotoday.com)
