INSURANCE dealer Marcus (not his real name) has two options to ensure a better future for himself and his family: either quit his current job as it only pays him a monthly salary of P7,500 and look for a high-paying job or stay with his current job and look for a side hustle to augment his income.
Marcus, 23, graduated from a state university in Cebu with a diploma in Communications Arts in June last year. On top of the other awards he received, he was a cum laude. He was also an active student leader in his department, and he always competed in both in-school and inter-school competitions.
Now that Marcus is in the corporate world, reality bites hard.
“I really thought that there would be a lot of good-paying jobs available once I graduated. But in reality, there are only a few,” Marcus told SunStar Cebu on Sunday, April 30, 2023.
The current daily minimum wage in Central Visayas is P435 for non-agricultural workers and P425 for agricultural workers in Class A cities such as Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City.
“I am finding a new source of income or a part-time job so that I can earn more. In this economy, it is so hard to cope with the increasing prices of commodities,” Marcus said.
Underemployment
Marcus is one of the underemployed persons in the labor force in Central Visayas. In October 2022, the underemployment rate in the region was 14.9 percent, according to the study released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Underemployment is a circumstance in which people in the labor force work part-time or irregularly or in occupations that are unsuitable for their training or economic needs.
From the result of the 2022 Labor Force Survey of the PSA, Central Visayas has a total population of 5.6 million individuals aged 15 years old and above, wherein 59.96 percent were engaged in the labor force. This means that there were more than 800,000 out of the roughly 5.6 million individuals aged 15 years old and above in the region who sought better employment opportunities.
Central Visayas’ unemployment rate of 5.08 percent (roughly 450,000 unemployed individuals) in October 2022 was higher than the national unemployment rate, which was 4.5 percent.
However, Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 information officer Luchel Taniza said they had seen a trend of a rising employment rate in the region.
“If we compare the employment rate in October 2021, it was 93 percent. So, it grew because in October 2022, we had 94.2 percent,” Taniza said Sunday.
“The economy has opened, and a lot of industries have resumed their regular operations,” she added.
She said the opening of businesses after the easing of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic has helped in the rise of Central Visayas’ employment rate.
Petition
Last Thursday, April 27, labor groups gathered at the Dole 7 office in Cebu City and refiled their petition asking for a P100 increase in the current daily minimum wage. They made the move after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 7 dismissed their early petition last March 31.
Teody Navea, chairman of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino Cebu, told the media that the petition is just a wage recovery and not a solution to cope with the high prices of commodities.
For Marcus, he has a third option to ensure a better future, and that is to seek job opportunities in other countries.
“The plan is to broaden my horizons and leave Cebu in search of greener pastures. I want a better life for my family,” he said.