More than 200k Filipinos permanently jobless due to pandemic—DOLE

FILE PHOTO: Passengers wearing face masks and face shields scramble to board a bus, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, September 7, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

MANILA, Philippines — More than 200,000 Filipinos “permanently” lost their jobs due to the coronavirus disease pandemic, which hit 319,330 individuals nationwide,  latest data from the Department of Labor and Employment showed Saturday.

In a radio interview, DOLE Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said this figure as over 3.5 million workers were affected by the health crisis.

“Sa ngayon po, base sa ating tala, mayroon po tayong 3.5 million na mga manggagawa na naapektuhan po ng pandemya. Ito pong kapag sinabi nating maapektuhan, mahigit dalawang daang libo dito tuluyang nawalan po ng trabaho permanently due to retrenchement o kaya establishment closure,” Tutay said over dzBB, adding that their figures were based from administrative data  of firms nationwide.

(For now, based on our figures, we have 3.5 million workers affected in the pandemic.  Of these affected workers, more than 200,000 lost their jobs permanently due to retrenchment or because of closure of their establishment.)

Meanwhile, Tutay said 3.3 million workers are undertaking flexible work arrangements.

The DOLE official cited 1,264 companies were permanently closed nationwide while 11,000 firms decreased their workers due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Of these firms, she said among the hardest-hit industries were wholesale and retail business, transportation, education as well as tourism.

On DOLE’s assistance, Tutay said the Bayanihan 2 or Bayanihan to Recover as One Act allocated P13 billion worth of funds for the department’s assistance for the formal sector, informal sector and repatriated Filipinos who experienced job loss in the pandemic.

CFC