Kilusang Mayo Uno expects Arroyo to deliver an effortful stage performance on her SONA, according to standards of fictional scriptwriting and production.

We will not be surprised on how her spin doctors will distort the reports, but we caution her: lavish lies enrage us further.

Sufficient wages

Accgdto National Statistical Coordination Board (minimum wage already includes COLA)

Family living wage in NCR: P894, minimum wage is 42.7% of this

Family living wage in region 8 (lowest): P573, minimum wage is 41.5%

Family living wage in ARMM (highest): P1,260, minimum wage is 18.5%

Accdgto National Wages and Productivity Commission

Real wage in NCR based on year 2000: P243

Real wage in region 8: P152

Real wage in ARMM: P118 

Accdgto NSO Familiy Income and Expenditure Survey

Maximum income of 80% of Filipinos: P284/day

Maximum income of poorest 10%: P90/day

Maximum income to be considered under government’s poverty threshold: P41.25/day 

Abundant jobs

Accdgto National Statistics Office

Actual job generation, year 04-05: 700 thousand

Actual job generation, 05-06: 648 thousand

Actual job generation, 06-07: 599 thousand

Arroyo’s boasted target for every year: 1.6 million 

Jobs lost in 2007: 488 thousand

Unemployment rise, April 07- April 08: 222 thousand

Underemployment rise, April 07- April 08: 248 thousand

Gov’t minimum requirement to be considered employed: one hour per week of work 

Accgto DOLE Bureau of Labor and Employment

‘Self employed’ workers for 2007: 10.6 million, 31.5% of employed

No. of employed workers in informal sector, 2004: 13.5 million

No. of employed workers in informal sector, 2005: 14.5 million

No. of employed workers in informal sector, 2006: 14.7 million 

Protected rights

Accdgto DOLE Bureau of Working Conditions

Firms with cases of labor rights violations: at least 4,000 

Documented reports of Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, a non-gov’t, non-profit institution

 Cases of trade union and human rights violation, Jan-June 08: 107 cases, affecting 21,033 individuals

Cases of trade union and human rights violation, Jan-Dec 07: 161, affecting 16,446 individuals 

Victims of threat, harassment, or intimidation, Jan-June 08: 347

Victims of threat, harassment, or intimidation, Jan-Dec 07: 1,236 

Present no. of workers: 33,536,000

No. of workers organized in unions: 2,426,000, or 7.23%

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