The Ibon Foundation clarified that the Marcos regime’s boasted reduction in unemployment rate and increased employment rate did not lift Filipino workers out of poverty. These jobs are low-quality, temporary and short-term. Notably, these are in the sectors which pay the lowest wages.

In data presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority for June, the number of employed workers increased by 1.4 million. The number of unemployed decreased by 707,000. However, the number of underemployed workers increased by 208,000.

New jobs were reportedly created in the construction, wholesale and retail, accommodation and food service and manufacturing sectors. However, these are offset by the 997,000 job loss in agriculture.

Worse, 1.3 million or 89% of the new jobs were in the low-wage sectors. Only 163,000 or 11% are in sectors that pay higher than the national average daily basic pay (ADBP). In construction, for example, wages are only ₱540/day, in wholesale and retail trade: ₱470, accommodation and food service: ₱486 and manufacturing: ₱546. All of these are less than the ADBP of ₱616/day.

“The Marcos Jr. government can boast of the decrease in the unemployment rate, but the truth will be revealed if we look deeper,” the KMU said in a statement on August 8. It denounced the continuing layoffs in electronics and garments behind the alleged increase in the number of manufacturing workers, among others.

“Workers receive insufficient wages,” the KMU said. “The steady increase in the underemployment rate accentuates the decline in the real value of wages, while the wage increases from the regional wage board are minuscule and all for show.”

“The government should: implement a national minimum wage at a viable level, which is at ₱1,200 for now,” it said. “It should also outline a real program to create regular long-term jobs in line with the aspirations of national development.”