As businesses suffer losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over 4 million more Filipino workers could lose their jobs by the end of the year, Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestro Bello III said on June 24.
DOLE projected that around 10 to 15% of the Philippine workforce could be out of jobs by the end of the year.
“It could be bigger, but we are looking at a possible resurgence of the BPO,” Bello said in a hybrid Senate hearing.
Companies and businesses around that world will try to outsource services in order to cut on spending, and that can mean more jobs in the call center industry, along with back offices of foreign companies in the Philippines.
Aside from call centers and back offices, the resumption of construction works and the government’s Build, Build, Build program is expected to generate jobs, Bello added.
Earlier in June, around 2,000 businesses and 50 small enterprises advised DOLE of their permanent closure or retrenchment due to the community quarantine.
According to Bello, the DOLE is looking into a P40-billion wage subsidy program in order to help companies keep employees during the pandemic.
As people lose their jobs, the economy will weaken. Hindi sila mamimili. Walang pupunta sa restaurants... walang business," he said.
"We need to secure jobs," he summed up.
