MORE than 120,000 workers have already lost their jobs after nearly 5,000 companies either shut down permanently or implemented retrenchment this year, which is highlighted by the breakout of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Based on the latest Job Displacement Monitoring Report of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), a total of 4,955 companies had displaced workers totaling to 121,921 as of July 12.
“A total of 121,921 workers were displaced nationwide from 4,955 establishments from January 2020 to present as reported by the DOLE Regional Offices, with 90 percent of which reduced workforce (4,454), while the remaining 10 percent reported permanent closure (501),” said the DOLE report.
The report said the 501 firms that reported permanent closure displaced a total of 10,987 workers.
On the other hand, the 4,454 companies that retrenched workers affected 110,934 employees.
In the first 12 days of July alone, a total of 17,203 employees from 973 firms lost their jobs.
The month of June tallied the highest number of reporting establishments with 2,602, which meant the displacing of 50,589 workers.
The National Capital Region (NCR) had the most number of displaced workers with 50,696; followed by CALABARZON with 29,833.
Also having high number of displaced workers are Central Luzon (14,882), Central Visayas (5,956), Cordillera Administrative Region (5,326), and Davao Region (3,760).
In terms of major industry group, having the most displaced workers were under administrative and support service (31,816), followed by other service activities (18,000), and the manufacturing sector (17,295).
Massive job losses were also felt by workers from the accommodation and food service industry (8,630), information and communication (5,980), and financial and insurance activities (5,748).
Operations of nearly all business establishments in the country stopped when various levels of community quarantine were imposed when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March.
