4 million join “poorest of the working poor club” as poverty continue to overtake even minimum wage workers’ income since 2014

By TUCP-Nagkaisa
March 16, 2015

QUEZON CITY – There are now four million more of more than 20 million poorest of the working poor nationwide who cannot even afford the daily P293 cost of food and basic commodities needed by a Filipino family of five to survive, said workers’ lobby group the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa).

With this, the labor group urged government to take immediate solutions following a survey showing poverty continues to surpass poor workers’ take home pay and has now overtaken minimum wage earners’ in Metro Manila and in all other regions in the Philippines since last year, recent poll released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Results of 2014 survey released March 6, poverty incidence among Filipino families worsened to 20% in the first half of 2014 from 18.8% in 2013 while the subsistence incidence rose from 7.5% in 2013 to 7.6% this year.

The result also showed incomes of poor families were short by 27% of the average poverty threshold of P8,778/month or P293/day for a family of five in the first semester of 2014. This means, on the average, an additional P2,370 was needed by a poor worker and his family with five members in order to move out of poverty.

“With its 400 days left in office, President Noynoy Aquino must re-focus and re-devote his remaining time, energy, and political capital if he still he wants to make a direct impact to Filipino workers and their families. Rather than being kept busy by sexy political issues, he has to address one of the core issue of growing and escalating poverty incidence,” said TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

In the National Capital Region (NCR) alone, the highest minimum wage in all 17 regions, government said the real value of the current P466 minimum daily wage is P356.64 or P7,846.08 a month or P932 short of the poverty threshold. The same survey showed 10.5% of the working population whose income cannot afford even the food threshold alone.

The poorest is in Yolanda-hit Eastern Visayas region with 2.2 million families who cannot afford the minimum amount of P293/daily amount. The current real value of the P280 daily minimum wage is P184/day.