OVER 5 million workers were displaced last year amid the economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, based on the latest preliminary report of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Of the Covid-affected workers, 428,701 from 2,060 employers lost their jobs either due to retrenchment or permanent closure of their establishments.
“Retrenchment or reduction of work force was mostly observed in small enterprises, while there is a higher incidence of permanent closure in microenterprises,” DOLE said in its 2020 Job Displacement Report.
The top three industries which registered the most number of permanent displacements were still the administrative and support service activities (80,803); other service activities; and manufacturing (51,793).
Coming in fourth place is the construction sector with 48,049; accommodation and food service activities (40,465); wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (26,470); and transportation and storage (22,662).
The remaining sectors registered less than 20,000 displaced workers. These include education (17,152); information and communication (15,927); financial and insurance activities (13,946); professional, scientific and technical activities (7,977); arts, entertainment and recreation (7,735); agriculture, forestry and fishing (4,153); real-estate activities (3,824); human health and social work activities (3,788); mining and quarrying (2,304); electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (1,968); and water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (320).
Bounce back
Earlier, DOLE identified the construction sector and the transportation sector as those that will remain key employment generators during the pandemic.
In a phone interview, Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique R. Tutay said she is no longer certain if this will remain true for the transportation sector, especially after some airlines have announced plans to reduce their operations.
However, the labor official is confident the construction sector will be able to bounce back from its labor slump this year.
“It will still be a key employment generator given the full-swing implementation of the Build Build Build program,” Tutay said.
This was affirmed by Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who said the government infrastructure spending is expected to pick up after December 2020 as “line departments try to fast-track the implementation of their programs and settle their outstanding payables.”
He said both the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) are now implementing their catchup plans.
Temporary displacement
DOLE registered over 4.5 million workers who were temporarily displaced from March to December 2020.
Half or 2.3 million of these workers were affected by 62,857 establishments, which implemented flexible work arrangements such as reduced workdays, rotation workers, and forced leaves.
The other remaining 2.39 million were employed by 100,290 companies, which implemented temporary closure.
“In terms of establishment size, majority of the establishments which adopted flexible work arrangements were small enterprises. On the other hand, a greater number of establishments under microenterprises implemented temporary closure,” DOLE said in its displacement report.
Tutay is hoping for a reduction in the number of displaced workers this year as the government relaxes quarantine restrictions to allow more businesses to resume their operations.