THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is anticipating a “tight” labor market in the next two years with the expected participation of 4 million workers displaced since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an online press briefing on Thursday, Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique R. Tutay disclosed they registered 3.8 million workers who were permanently and temporarily displaced from January to October.
DOLE’s International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) also tallied over 550,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) whose employment was affected by the pandemic.
Of these OFWs, ILAB Director Alice Q. Visperas said 370,000 have already been repatriated to their home provinces.
Another 126,000 OFWs are still waiting to be brought home, while 82,000 have opted to remain in their host countries, according to Visperas.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) Administrator Hans J. Cacdac said 80,000 of the home-bound OFWs are expected to arrive by the first half of 2021.
Employment challenge
Further worsening this situation, Tutay said, is the projected entry into the labor market of the first batch of students covered by the K to 12 program—which extended basic education to 13 years.
The sheer number of jobless Filipinos, the labor official pointed out, will impose a significant burden on the local labor market, which is still reeling from the effects of the pandemic.
“So this means the labor market will be very tight in 2021 and 2022 and it’s going to be a challenge for us as we open gradually our economy,” Tutay said.
“But hopefully with the [introduction of the] vaccine, our businesses will be more confident [to resume their operations] and also our entrants to [join] the labor market,” she
added.
DOLE and other government agencies are currently crafting the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) to address the labor impact of Covid-19 in the next three years.
Among the salient points of the draft NERs are a wage subsidy for micro, small, and medium establishments (MSMEs) and cash aid for the youth.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza