TO boost the income of informal sector workers, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is now extending to them a helping hand to market their products online.
Last week, DOLE launched its DOLE Livelihood Beneficiaries Products Showcase (DLBPS) during its celebration of Labor Day for informal sector workers to provide an online platform to informal sector to help them sell their goods.
Labor Assistant Secretary Benjo M. Benavidez said the program, which is an initiative of the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC), aims to augment their DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP), to provide livelihood opportunities to disadvantaged workers.
Ultimately, he said, the program aims to make the business enterprises of their DILP recipients profitable.
“We want you to have a sustainable livelihood. This is one of the tools we have developed to help you sell your products,” Benavidez said in a news statement.
The site could be accessed at https://lbp.bwsc.dole.gov.ph/ and features several products ranging from wooden tables and chairs to friendship bracelets originating from Metro Manila and the regions.
It has a star-based rating system to allow customers to share their feedback to other potential customers.
Among the program’s intended beneficiaries are construction workers, kasambahay associations, microentrepreneurs and tricycle drivers’ groups, among others.
DOLE is now targeting to raise the economic participation of informal sector workers since they are estimated to comprise a large portion of the country’s labor force.
“We recognize the unique contribution of workers in the informal sector in the country. We want to improve their status of living, strengthen their enterprises and livelihood, as well as to protect their rights as workers,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in a statement.
BWSC earlier said it will be advocating for the generation of more statistical data as to the numbers of informal sector workers so the government’s program for them would be more responsive to their needs.