Bayan Muna criticizes government’s ‘misleading’ employment statistics

Metro Manila, Philippines – Bayan Muna Party-list criticized the “misleading” government employment statistics on Sunday, Sept. 8.

This, after the Department of Labor and Employment said that a person working for at least an hour a day is considered employed.

Former Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said “flawed definitions will only deepen the crisis.”

“This is both deeply insulting and grossly misleading. Defining employment in such a narrow way ignores the reality of economic hardship faced by millions of Filipinos and serves only as a means to artificially lower unemployment statistics," he said in a statement.

"True employment is more than just clocking in for an hour. It means having a stable, secure job that provides a living wage, sufficient working hours, and essential benefits like health care, paid leave, and social security. The government's role is to ensure that citizens have access to decent employment, not to manipulate data in a way that downplays the real struggles of the workforce,” he added.

Latest government data showed 2.38 million Filipinos had no jobs in July, higher than the 1.62 million logged in June.

https://www.newswatchplus.ph/news/2024/9/6/jobless-filipinos-july.html

Gaite said that the figures highlight the government’s failure to provide work opportunities and expose labor policy flaws.

He pushed for a shift in the focus of the government to generate jobs for fresh graduates as policies that may have been effective decades ago “no longer meet the realities of a globalized, digital economy.”

Gaite encouraged the government to provide solutions that lead to fair wages and worker rights promotion, among others.