113 workers retrenched daily as businesses closed – DOLE
Mayen Jaymalin
Philippine Star
An average of 113 Filipino workers are retrenched daily from their employment due to closures of commercial establishments, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.
Data from the DOLE-Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) showed that a total of 20,478 workers or a daily average of 113 workers were displaced due to closures of commercial firms in 2007.
BLES recorded a total of 1,363 commercial establishments nationwide closing down in the first half of 2007 allegedly due to economic difficulty.
The bulk of the displaced workers were from the National Capital Region (NCR) where 940 companies closed down affecting 10,397 workers.
In the past two years, NCR also accounted for the biggest number of firms that closed shop and retrenched over 30,000 workers.
DOLE records, however, indicated that the number of displaced workers in the first half of 2007 was way below the figures for the past two years.
In 2006, BLES recorded a total of 59,376 workers displaced or a daily average of 164 while a total of 57,594 workers were affected by closures and retrenchment in year 2005.
Common reasons cited for closures and retrenchments were lack of market, slump in demand, downsizing, redundancy and financial losses.
However, the DOLE reported that more workers are now getting rightful wages and experiencing better conditions.
The BLES showed that an increasing number of commercial firms are complying with the minimum wage law.
According to the data, 84.2 percent of the over 18,000 commercial establishments inspected nationwide are paying their workers the right wages.
The 2007 minimum wage compliance rate was higher than the recorded 82.6 percent compliance rate in 2006 and 81.3 percent in 2005.
DOLE earlier admitted that the minimum wage law is the most violated among the different labor standards, particularly in NCR.
But labor officials said fewer companies have violated the law since DOLE intensified its inspection in July 2007.
DOLE implemented the Labor Standards Enforcement Framework-Inspection Blitz project to check compliance of establishments with core labor standards nationwide.
Under the project, teams of DOLE inspectors visit all establishments in a particular area before moving on to other places in blitzkrieg style to cover more establishments in a much shorter period of time.
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