20,478 Filipinos lost jobs in first half of 2007--DoLE
Lowest figures since 2005
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:56:00 03/28/2008
Filed Under: Labor, Unemployment
MANILA, Philippines -- A total of 20,478 Filipinos lost their jobs as business establishments closed shop or cut down on their workforce due to economic difficulties in the first half of 2007, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said in a statement Friday.
Citing a report form the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES), acting DoLE Secretary Marianito Roque said the number represents a 65.5 percent drop from the figures in 2006, when 59,376 Filipinos were retrenched or laid off during the first semester.
This, Roque said, reflected a similar decline in the number of business establishments that closed shop or cut down on their workforce.
Still citing BLES data, he said establishments which filed retrenchments report with the DoLE declined by 54 percent from 2,979 in the first semester of 2006 to 1,363 in the same period in 2007, of which 255 were closures and 1,115 were establishments that resorted to reduction of workers.
He said the number of Filipinos who lost their jobs from January to June 2007 is the lowest since 2005.
Roque, who was appointed to the post left by now Supreme Court Associate Justice Arturo Brion last week, also said the figures of layoffs, retrenchments, and closures indicate that the labor market remains resilient despite oil price hikes and the slowdown of the United States economy.
In a related development, Roque said 2.4 percent more jobs were created during the second quarter of last year compared to the same period the previous year. Citing this time the Labor Turnover Survey, he said that “accessions or additions to employment” increased from 8.9 percent to 11.3 percent during the April to June 2007 period compared to the April to June 2006 period.
Again, he said this “employment expansion was one of the highest since 2005.”
Roque attributed the lower retrenchment rate and the higher employment expansion rate to the growth in the economy in 2007.
At the same time, he pointed out that from January to June 2007, compliance to the minimum wage improved at 84.2 percent from 82.6 percent and 81.3 percent during the same period in 2006 and 2005, respectively.
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