“Ordinary Filipino Workers vs.

Poverty”

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have a number one
goal which is to eradicate poverty or end poverty in all its forms and dimensions by
2030. This involves targeting the most vulnerable, increasing basic resources and
services, and supporting communities affected by conflict and climate-related
disasters. Its main goal is to reduce poverty and share prosperity, and to suggest ways
to address the issue. However, as for our documentation, we presented about the
connection of poverty to employment, the factors that contributes to poverty and how
poverty affects the life of a person.
In our documentation, we conducted an interview to the different classification
of jobs and categorized it by two kinds of collar jobs, which is the white and the blue
collar workers. The white collar workers, which consists of a teacher, supervisor and
an accountant while the blue collar workers consists of a street sweeper, traffic
enforcer, embroiderer, tricycle driver and a vendor. As we lay out the questions that
we prepared for them and hear their answers, we saw their different perspectives in
regards with the connection of poverty in their work. Most of them answered that the
cause of poverty is the lack of employment or unemployment and they said that the
only solution for it is to strive harder to gain a more better and a decent living. They
also shared that even though they had an income to use for their needs, they still live
in extreme poverty and is struggling to fulfil the most basic needs because their
income is not enough to accommodate and support all of their expenses that is why
they work their selves to the bone.
Therefore, poverty has proven to be one of the most significant challenges facing
this country and its citizens. Filipinos are having a hard time surviving in such
difficult conditions, and more and more are falling into extreme poverty. People are
poor in the Philippines not just because they do not work, but because they earn a
little and having a job does not really provide a pathway out of poverty and it does
not guarantee a decent living. It is also primarily due to low earning capacity of the
poor and to their limited access to regular and productive jobs. Behind these, there
are two interrelated root causes of in-work poverty, the low education of the poor,
and the scarcity of productive job opportunities. As a result, it is really important
to understand the effects of poverty in the Philippines. Whether we admit it or not,
the conditions in our country do not seem to be improving, but there is always hope
for a new development.