The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported a downturn in the increase of permanent labor displacement for the second week in a row this month, indicating a slight improvement in the country’s work force.
While an additional 6,041 workers still lost their jobs from July 12 to July 19, 2020, this has been lower compared to the increases since the month started.
From June 28 to July 5, DOLE reported a whopping 12,561 workers were displaced, which is 11 percent higher compared to the figures in the previous week.
During the second week of July, the rate of increase started to slowed down to 7 percent, which is equivalent to 9,507 displaced workers.
Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said they are hopeful the slowdown will continue in the coming weeks as the government eases quarantine restrictions to allow more businesses to operate under the second phase of its National Action Plan to response to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“This is a welcome development as the economy continues to open gradually. We just need to reinforce some barriers of our workers, especially when it comes to transport services as most workers still find it a challenge in terms of units and cost of transport,” Tutay told the BusinessMirror in a Viber message.
As of July 20, DOLE’s Jobs Displacement Report showed there were already a total of 127,962 workers who were displaced by 5,672 establishments nationwide.
Of the said figures, 116,087 were retrenched by their 5,100 employers as cost-cutting measure.
The remaining 11,875 workers lost their jobs after their 572 companies permanently closed down.
The National Capital Region still registered the most number of displaced workers at 52,814 and followed by Calabarzon (31,254) and Central Luzon (15,524).
The industries most affected by the displacements are the administrative and support services activities (32,092); other services activities (19,408); and manufacturing (17,787).
Other service activities includes the activities of membership organizations, the repair of computers and personal and household goods, and a variety of personal service activities not covered elsewhere in the classifications of DOLE.