4M more can’t afford daily cost of living – labor group

There are now four million more of the more than 20 million poorest of the working poor nationwide who cannot even afford the daily P293 cost of food and basic commodities needed by a Filipino family of five to survive, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) declared on Monday.

With this, the labor group urged the government to take immediate solutions, citing a survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing that poverty continues to surpass poor workers’ take-home pay and has now overtaken minimum wage earners’ in Metro Manila and in all other regions in the Philippines since last year.