OVER 400,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) worldwide are now jobless or suffering reductions in their benefits or pay due to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
In an online press briefing on Wednesday, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the employment of another 80,000 OFWs was affected by Covid-19.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they expect these OFWs will be seeking repatriation.
“So far, I have not heard if some of them would not want to come home. My assumption is if they are stranded or affected by Covid, they would want to come home,” Bello said.
Last month, DOLE reported 341,000 Covid-affected OFWs.
Of these OFWs, 191,000 refused to be repatriated as they opted to wait in their host country for new employment opportunities.
On Tuesday evening, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana reported that 75,895 displaced OFWs were already repatriated by the government since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year.
They were among the 114,394 returning overseas Filipinos registered by the Department of Health (DOH) as of July 7, 2020.
Of these returning Filipinos, 2,720 were infected with Covid-19.
Migration experts earlier projected more OFWs will be affected by the Covid-19 as many countries continue to reel from the economic disruption caused by Covid-19.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) earlier estimated many of the 164 million migrant workers worldwide will lose their jobs and go home to their countries because of the pandemic.
Image credits: DFA