The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said the depressing wage rates in the country has forced some 7.6 million workers to seek extra jobs for additional income.

TUCP spokesperson Alex Aguilar said in statement that a growing number of labor force participants, now nearly 25 percent of Filipino employees, toil longer hours because their take home pay is not enough to cover the daily cost of decent living.

Aguilar said a report Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics indicated that nearly five of every 20 employed Filipinos were found to be overemployed last year.

Taken from the National Statistics Office's quarterly labor force surveys, the BLES report showed that of the 33 million Filipinos on the job, about 23 percent or 7.6 million were overemployed.

The report also noted that the bulk of the overemployed -- 58.5 percent or 4.4 million -- worked for extra income.

Aguilar described the reported massive overemployment as "a labor market distortion," caused primarily by low and insufficient wages. This is a distortion because if a person is earning enough for an eight-hour job, then he or she would not have to look for additional work that should be performed by someone else who is totally jobless or underemployed, he said.

The TUCP has a pending petition before the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board for a P75 increase in minimum wage for workers in Western Visayas.

"We are definitely counting on the wage board to provide instant relief to our workers," Aguilar said.

He brushed aside fears that higher wages will only aggravate unemployment.

"That is old hat. Those opposed to giving workers higher wages always try play up and exaggerate the ghost of job losses," he said.

On the contrary, Aguilar said higher wages will drive up personal consumption expenditure, create new demand for good and services, and thus prop up domestic industries and employment.*

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