Low labour cost in the Philippines

At first, I thought about tackling poverty but I want for its root to be discussed rather. I wanted to answer the ‘WHYs’ in particular with it. So I decided that I would give emphasis to the low labour cost we have here for both the blue and white -collar jobs. Philippines have been tagged as a third world country and the common perception with this is that the country is poor but as we all knew, Philippines isn’t poor, only its people.

Philippines have a lot of hardworking and skilled citizens yet most are underpaid. Jobs have higher qualifications, too many procedures and requisite and still you’ll land on a job that could not even pay the degree of work that you could offer. Mostly we are offered with the bare minimum like as if that is only our worth. Come to think of it? If Philippines is poor then why foreign business owners are so attracted to invest and start their business here? It’s because of the low labour cost of Filipinos. And then there, you would realize we are the slave of our own country. Most of us are trying their best to at least survive in our current state and provide sufficient support for their families so they will just settle for what is already there. And then, CoVID-19 pandemic comes that worsen the situation that is already on its low point. From 7.1% recorded unemployment rate in March 2021, which was equivalent to 3.4 million jobless Filipinos has increased drastically in April that became 17.2 % which is equivalent to 7.45 million individuals according to rappler. From underpaid to unemployed, how could these numerous number of deprived people survived on these times where even the employed are living their life the hardest at this point. And what does the government do? Prices of necessary commodities have increased while the worth of a ‘palay’ decreases and other livelihood products which then be sold for even higher prices in the cities and other countries. While our farmers, our low income earners are paid less, the ones who are already earning way higher are also the ones that benefit the most from the sweat and hard work of those on the low. If only the government will care for their citizens the way they care for foreign affairs, maybe it was then resolved many years ago.

Our country, care so much for diplomas, degrees, and higher qualifications that are more than of what they could even provide for their citizens at the very first place. Qualifications are actually good because who would hire for someone that could not contribute a thing for progress? But maybe we could give chances for those who didn’t have a degree, to provide opportunities for them rather than all the discriminations they received. And of course to increase the wages of these citizens on the low borders because clearly, those who have rigorous type of work are the ones who were paid the least. So if I would be given a chance to pass a reform I would give emphasis on equating degree of work to the amount of salary that people received because those who provide the basic necessities deserve as much as what they considered the ‘higher’ level citizens of our society are enjoying.