Labor chief downplays PSA report on jobless rate

LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Wednesday, June 10, sought to downplay the high unemployment rate reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), saying only about 70,000 workers have lost their jobs.

The figure is just a small fraction of the 2.6 million displaced workers that Bello told a Senate committee of the whole hearing about three weeks ago.

The PSA report said around 7.3 million workers became jobless in April 2020 because of the pandemic. This translated to a sharp rise in the unemployment rate to 17.7 percent.

“Unang-una, klaruhin natin po iyong 7.3 million. Eh hindi actual iyan Sec. Mart, kasi kung tutuusin ang actual number of unemployed ay umaabot lamang po sa 69,000 at ang mga nagsabi na nagsara sila ay 2,068 companies o employers,” Bello said.

“Iyon pong 7.3 million ay survey pa lang po iyan, hindi pa po iyan actual o factual,” he added.

Bello said their records show that 69,022 employees nationwide were laid off by 2,068 companies due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

“So ang aming tinitingnan ngayon dito ay iyong number of total establishment na nagsara – this is 2,068 involving 69,022 workers,” Bello said.

“Pero iyong sinasabi na 7.3 million, eh kuwan pa lamang po ito Sec. Martin, survey result pa lamang, hindi po actual ito. Ang actual iyong sinasabi kong figure na 2,068 establishments ang nagsara at it involves 69,022 workers,” he added.

During the Senate committee of the whole hearing on May 21, Bello said the number of workers who may lose their jobs this year is estimated at 10 million from the service, tourism, and transportation sectors.

Bello said the agency is looking into subsidizing employers to help them maintain and add more employees.

“Ngayon, mayroon din po tayong programa para sa mga formal workers and this is what we call iyong wage subsidy para sa mga employers. Our proposal is to give all employers a range of 25 percent to 50 percent subsidy provided na hindi sila magtatanggal ng empleyado nila at kung maaari ay dadagdag sila ng empleyado,” he said. (SunStar Philippines)