The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said an across-the-board wage hike for workers nationwide is not the appropriate measure to help Filipinos reeling from the impact of skyrocketing consumer prices. During the House briefing of the Development and Budget Coordination Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 28, NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said increasing the mandated wages would discourage investors to do business in the country. Balisacan added that higher wages would make the country’s exports more expensive, or less competitive in the international markets. Instead of increasing wages through legislation, Balisacan told lawmakers that the Philippines should work on ways to increase demand for labor. “It is very harmful to the economy in the longer term and even for labor,” the NEDA chief said. “If wages are forced to increase by legislative, and not because the demand for labor is high compared to the supply of labor, then the whole issue of competitiveness will hurt us.” Balisacan asked “if we just rise not because of productivity, how can we export? How can our products become competitive in the international market? And if we cannot export, how can we increase the level of economic activity? Where will the labor be employed?” These are concerns that the Philippine Development Plan wants to address, Balisacan said. “The plan of this administration is to address this very low productivity in agriculture, by investing in the right places like in irrigation, in farm-to-market roads, in technology and access to markets and so on, and not forcing increasing in wages by legislature,” Balisacan said. “It does more harm to the economy in the longer term than it benefits,” he concluded. Some labor groups have called on government to increase the salaries of workers to improve the standard of living and quality of life, particularly those in the lower income bracket. They stressed that while there was a minimum wage increase last year, it would not be able to sustain the living conditions of workers considering that many of them are facing financial difficulties brought about by rising inflation. To recall, the Philippines logged an inflate rate of 8.7 percent in January, a fresh 14-year high or the fastest pace since the 9.1 percent recorded in November 2008. The latest minimum wage increase took effect on June 4, 2022, with the rates ranging from P533 to P570 per day in the National Capital Region.