ILO: Soaring Inflation Affecting Workers, Employers

Constantly increasing inflation rates in the Philippines are negatively affecting both workers and employers, which have prompted calls for dialogue to provide a solution that will benefit employee wages and the productivity of industries.

This comes as an official from the International Labor Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency, said in an interview that employers and workers alike must face the inflation problem the country is currently facing together.

“Inflation affects all of us, so we have to be in this together,” ILO Project Manager Bryan Balco said in an interview with ANC.

Moreover, Balco added that the current inflation challenge serves as a chance for workers and employers to engage in dialogue.

“There is an opportunity now for workers and employers to engage in social dialogue on how to come up with measures in protecting jobs, ensuring decent wages for our workers while at the same time, boosting enterprise productivities,” Balco added.

This comes as inflation reached 7.7 in October, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expecting the inflation rate for November to reach over 8 percent, way above the country’s maximum target of 4 percent.

The current inflation rate in the country is rendering the wage hikes approved in June 2022 futile.

Balco said that wages must be able to contend with the increasing prices of goods.

“There’s really a need to bridge the gap between wages and prices otherwise purchasing power of Filipinos, particularly the working class would have to contend with the continuous soaring prices,” he said.

Moreover, he added that the government must be part of the dialogue to produce a situation that benefits all parties. (GFB)