Labor official eyes emergency employment for underemployed

July 30, 2017

A senior official of the labor department said he would propose a program allowing  allow workers with insufficient earnings to avail of the government's emergency employment program. Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod said Sunday he is looking at the feasibility of making the emergency employment program available "for all workers, who do not have enough income.” "This means that emergency employment will not be exclusive to workers displaced by calamities," he added. He said this means those considered underemployed and members of the informal sector can avail of emergency employment activities. "I believe we have a budget we can allocate for this program," said Maglunsod. The emergency employment program is used by  the labor department to help disaster-hit workers by offering them short-term employment and giving minimum salaries prevailing in the region. DMS