Arroyo’s “employment miracle” to burst after election

“Ephemeral increase based on the distorted data and spurned by massive election spending.”

This was the gibe of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Labor Center to Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo’s shower of praises to herself on purported job creation as presented by the latest labor force survey by the National Statistics Office (NSO) with the unemployment rate at 7.8% for January 2007 dipping from 8.1% a year ago.

“Election season always creates an artificial increase in jobs due to the massive spending of candidates from the local to the national level. Due to the needs of the candidates, various jobs emerge like mushrooms after a thunderstorm, waiting to be filled-up by masses of unemployed. From the highly paid spin doctors, to dikit-poster boys and girls, to everything in between, elections provide a temporary source of income to many Filipinos,” said Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, National Chairperson of the KMU.

“But this is very passing and cannot be construed as genuine economic growth. The bubble will burst as soon as election ends and those odd-jobs will vanish just like many of the promises of the candidates plunging the people back to scraping a living,” stated Labog.

According to Labog, many printing firms need an extra hand or two during times of high demand for poster and other campaign paraphernalia. “If we are to use the distorted definition of the NSO regarding who are employed, then a person who was contracted to work as a sorter in a printing firm for a few hours can be considered employed, even though the job may not be there tomorrow. This can definitely increase the statistics and is being used by Arroyo to boost the administration ticket’s campaign while obfuscating the true state of things,” opined Labog.

“What the workers are waiting are long-term jobs wherein we can hedge our families’ future. We have been fighting for a Php 125 across-the-board wage increase but the Arroyo regime and the capitalist are hell-bent on not providing the working people a respite from the grinding poverty. Up until now, only the progressive partylists like Anakpawis, Bayan Muna and Gabriela Womens Party have clear program for wage increases. We are still to hear any from those running for senate,” ended Labog.