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Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—A wage increase next year is unlikely as pressures on the pockets of workers appear to be easing, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said.

In an interview recently, Roque said there will be a review of the minimum wage in July or August, but an increase is not forthcoming.

“Don’t bet on it,” he said. “The indicators are going down. Fares were rolled back, fuel and liquefied petroleum gas prices have gone down,” he added.

This year, the government implemented a P20 minimum wage increase in response to a clamor from labor organizations. Workers said they were hard-pressed in making ends meet because of record-high inflation and fare hikes.

Because of the financial squeeze that has affected many export-oriented companies in the Philippines, many workers will see their extra pay shrink next year, Roque said.

Despite the cuts in pay, workers are still better off this year compared to last year, Roque said.

“We removed the tax on minimum wage earners. So they have an extra P1,000 every month, even though there’s no overtime pay,” he said.

The labor official earlier said workers in the garment, electronic and automotive sectors would feel the heat of the crisis until 2010.

Recently, labor groups in export zones in Cavite and Cebu provinces reported that electronic firms and garment factories in the area had cut down on workers and factory hours because demand from their traditional and biggest markets, the United States and Europe, had slowed down.

The US and Europe have been hard hit by the financial credit crunch that has spread all over the world.

Roque noted that the Labor department is conducting a survey of companies in financial danger, hopefully to mitigate the adverse effects on the workers.