Workers may not necessarily lose their jobs as a result of the current wage adjustment if the Philippine economy expands through more investments.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan made the remarks on Tuesday when asked how many workers will be affected by the wage adjustment.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Balisacan said NEDA estimates show some 40,000 to 140,000 workers may be affected by the wage hike order.

However, those workers may not necessarily lose their jobs, the NEDA chief said. “Not necessarily. Because the economy is growing and the labor market is quite robust.”

Balisacan said there are other jobs being opened up, noting that the government recorded more than 600,000 new employment opportunities in May this year as compared to same month last year. “So, as and our economy continues to grow at six to seven percent this year ‘no so that will be accompanied by quite a lot of jobs,” he explained.

“But again, our focus is really improving that quality of jobs so that you know we can achieve our single digit poverty reduction by 2028. The only way we can do that is the quality of jobs must improve,” he added.

Balisacan earlier reported the unemployment rate decreased from 4.3 percent in May 2023 to 4.1 percent in May this year.

“And looking at the numbers, there is a total additional 605,000 workers added in the pool of employed people within the economy, he said, describing it as “very encouraging” because the increase in employment came from manufacturing, industry and services,” Balisacan said. PND