PH labor force cut down due to COVID-19

The Philippines has experienced an economic shutdown to the labor market after the coronavirus pandemic spread out in the country. This caused a drastic decrease in the employment rate, leaving a massive 17.7% of the population in April 2020, equivalent to 7.3 million jobless Filipinos, compared to a 5.1% or 5 million people without work in April 2019, reported by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last June 5.

According to Claire Dennis Mapa, a National Statistician, this is the highest unemployment rate on record.

Data coming from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) showed that the pandemic forced more than 93,000 establishments to temporarily shut down.

“As of May 8, the COVID pandemic affected 93,621 establishments nationwide. A majority of these establishments are in Metro Manila with 17,731,” DOLE Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said.

According to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, the number of displaced workers could possibly continue to rise if establishments fail to cope up and implement a more flexible work arrangement.

Meanwhile, in a meeting, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III advised the government to hire these unemployed workers to work as a contract tracer for patients who tested positive for COVID-19.

“We should hire contact tracers en masse to boost our efforts to stop the transmission and defeat COVID-19 while providing jobs,” Dominguez stated. “I think we can provide good jobs to people because sometimes it takes a contact tracer the whole day to locate one case. We need to hire enough contact tracers to match the numbers we expect that will come with more testing,” he added.

The establishments that are temporarily closed down are waiting for the right moment to reopen and aid the employment rate of the country. While different departments and sectors in the government are working to give subsidies to people who are under a “no work, no pay” scheme, they are also encouraged to consider alternative arrangements including work from home and taking shifts.

LAYOUT BY: Chester P. Cortez

PHOTO SOURCE(S): Tai’s Captures, JC Gellidon (Unsplash)