THE number of permanently displaced workers for almost the first half of the year has breached the 90,000 mark—the highest number of retrenched individuals in the last two years.
From January to June 21, 2020, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported 3,189 firms nationwide have already displaced 90,215 workers.
Of such displacement figures, 82,615 was a result of companies reducing their workforce, while the remaining 7,600 arose from the permanent closure of their establishments.
The total annual labor displacement for 2019 and 2018 was 88,947 and 68,587, respectively.
Business disruptions
The surge in the number of displaced workers this year comes after the country’s community quarantine already lasted for three months.
On March 17, 2020, President Duterte placed the country under a state of national emergency and implemented enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“The monthly breakdown shows that the month of June tallied the highest number of reporting establishments [57-percent share or 1,809] displacing 36,086 workers,” DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) said in its latest displacement monitoring report.
To note, permanent displacement figures from March to May were fairly low, averaging only at 6,000 per month.
Changing trend
During that three-month period, the number of workers affected by flexible work arrangements (FWA) and temporary closures (TC) soared from 10,756 (March 16) to over 2 million (May).
These figures of FWA- and TC-affected workers stagnated to 2.8 million by June, when companies started permanently displacing their workers instead.
Most or 28,192 of the displaced workers for the first six months of the year were employed in administrative and support services activities; other services activities (10,635); and manufacturing (10,260).
The regions severely affected by the mass labor displacement are Metro Manila (45,046), Calabarzon (17,805) and Central Luzon (8,107).
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
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