Solon sides with
Du30 in quashing
'anti-endo'bill
BUHAY Rep. Lito Atienza sees "wis-
dom" in Malacafiang's rejection ofthe
anti-endo bill, .saying that President
Rodrigo Duterte clearly understands
and knows how lhe country's develop-
ing economy works
"The reality is, the practice of short-
term contractual employment sup-
ports a multitude of Filipino families
that otherwise would not have a single
breadwinner," Atienza, former three-
term mayor of Manila, said.
"There are also many Filipino
households hovering just above the
poverty line because they have one
member who is regularly employed,
plus a second member who is contrac-
tually employed," Atienza poinled out.
Labor contractualization is a func-
tion of the country's high unemfloy-
ment ard underemployment lates, ac-
cording to Atienza-
The domestic job market - the sup:
ply and demand for labor remains
- in their present job or an additional
"highly imbalanced" owing to the
country's still-developing economy,
Atienza said.
$
fAetz - As"
"Despite the fact that more thall
6,000 Filipinos are leaving every day
to work abroad, mostly for contractual
jobs, we still have a large labor sur-
plus," Atienza said,
"Many Filipinos are competing ag'
gressively lor the fer*' regular and per'
manent new jobs available, so we still
have people ivilling and ready to tzke
on short-term work," Atienza said.
'As the economy expands and
achieves a higher employment rate in
the years ahead, Atienza said fewer
Filipinos would actually need, want
jobs.
less secure contractual
-and-seek
Th-e'country's unemployment rate
was preliminarily estimated at 5.1 per-
cent as ofApril, down from 5.5 percent
..
in the same montl in 2018, according to
the Philippine Statistics Authority.
"But the real problem is we still'
have a l3.5-percent underemployment
rate as of April, though it is down
from 17 percent in the same month in
2018," Atienza said.
The PSA defines the underem-
ployed as employed Filipinos "who
ofwork
wa.nt to have additional hours
job, or.have a new job with longer'
working hours.''