DOF reports shows that employment has returned to pre-pandemic levels

In an economic bulletin released on Thursday, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the number of employed Filipinos returned to pre-pandemic levels early this year after more than 8.7 million Filipinos lost their jobs in April 2020.

It said employment reached 43 million as of January 2021, which is higher than the 42.5 million during the same period last year.

Employment reached almost 43.3 million in April but the DOF said this could have been higher if not for the reimposition of the March 29 two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus (Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite) and the implementation of the modified ECQ in the succeeding weeks.

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data shows that the ECQ resulted in a drop in the employment rate to 91.3% last April from 92.9% in the previous month.

The national unemployment rate rose to 8.7% from 7.1% a month before, and underemployment jumped to 17.2% from 16.2%.

Unemployment in the NCR rose from 506,000 last March to 875,000 in the following month.

The unemployment rate in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (Calabarzon) increased by 8.4% during the same period.

The DOF said it is imperative that the health risks posed by the pandemic be managed effectively and its transmission arrested.

“If not, the government will be forced to transition from risk management stance to risk avoidance posture and make the difficult and painful decision of re-imposing much stricter quarantine measures.

In this instance, in the process of attempting to stem the spread of the disease, the risk of inadvertently killing the proverbial patient increases. Such potential unpleasant double-effect situation(s) should be avoided,” said the DOF.

It added that the inclusion of economic front-liners in the priority groups for vaccination will be a key step in protecting the population.

SOURCE: PNA