More poor people now have jobs, but number not enough to curb poverty

The number of people from poor households who joined the ranks of the employed had increased, but this development did not put a dent on poverty in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES).

Data from the agency showed that the number of the working poor rose by 18 percent to 7.9 million as of 2009 from 6.7 million in 2003.

The BLES report is based on the latest available data from the National Statistics Office’s Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES).

Done every three years, FIES is the basis for determining the poverty threshold—the minimum level of income deemed needed by a household to maintain an adequate standard of living in the country.

Even then, throughout the years, people from poor households continued to account for 22 percent of those with jobs.

Government economic managers and international experts believe that the country needs to improve the quality of employment to ensure that economic growth is felt among the poor.

“With the significant proportion of working poor in the country … having a job is not a guarantee of being spared from poverty, particularly if [those] employed are ‘underemployed,’” the BLES said.

Also, the bureau noted that the underemployment rate in the country stood at one for every five employed.

“This implies that a large number of Filipinos were engaged in jobs that could not provide the basic necessities of their families,” the BLES added.

Results also showed that one of four working men is poor. For women, the proportion is one of every five.

The BLES observed that while more men are getting jobs than women, more working men are still poor.

“Being the head of the family, men are forced to [take] even low-paying jobs for the family’s survival,” the bureau said. “It is observed that men also have a higher underemployment rate than women.”

Those working in agriculture, forestry and fishery had the highest proportion of working poor, which was pegged at 43.2 percent in 2009.

For the industry and services sectors, the ratios were 16.5 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively.

All three sectors showed increasing proportions of poor people with jobs compared to those in 2003, with industry posting the highest addition of 3.1 percentage points.