LEGAZPI CITY—In what could be just initial data, the regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said at least 600 workers in Bicol had already lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joel Gonzales, DOLE director in Bicol, said at least 51 businesses shed off workers after the pandemic forced their closure or suspended operations and were forced to resort to retrenchment to cushion the pandemic’s impact.
Gonzales said the layoff numbers have not had an impact yet on the labor market as the number of workers who lost their jobs in the region was only about 0.2 percent of Bicol’s 2.1 million labor force.
DOLE data showed the job loss was high in Albay with 387 workers losing employment. It was followed by Catanduanes, 124; Camarines Sur, 57; Camarines Norte, 26; Masbate, 12 and Sorsogon, 6.
At least 371 of the workers, or 60 percent, were retrenched while 189 resigned or saw their contracts end.
At least 52 of the workers became unemployed because of the permanent closure of the businesses that had hired them.