Unemployment in Visayas, Metro Manila ‘almost 50%’

File photo
File photo

THE economy is inching closer to the danger zone.

This was how Rey Calooy, president of the Filipino-Cebuano Business Club (FilCeb), described the current business climate amid the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey, which revealed that 45.5 percent of the adult labor force is jobless, or 27.3 million unemployed Filipinos, in July 2020.

“This is an indication. When businesses close, the unemployment rate will go up. If people are unemployed, there will be no more demand and if there’s no demand, there’s no supply,” he said.

The SWS survey reported that one out of five (21 percent) adult Filipinos – or half of the 42 percent with no job/livelihood at the time of the interview – lost their job or livelihood during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis. The other 21 percent lost their job/livelihood before the pandemic.

The 28-point surge in the national joblessness rate was due to increases of 31 points in the Visayas and 29 points in Metro Manila.

The unemployment rate in the Visayas rose to 46.6 percent in July from 15.7 percent in December 2019, surpassing the previous record of 31 percent in September 2007.

For the same period in Metro Manila, unemployment climbed to 43.5 percent from 15 percent, surpassing the previous record of 42 percent in February 2009.

“Central and mother offices are in Manila. Whatever effect will be there in the mother office, regional offices like the ones in Cebu will also be affected,” Calooy said.

“We are not independent. The decision makers are there in the headquarters, the big employers. So their directives will really have an impact on regional operations,” he said.

More than a hundred micro, small and medium businesses under Filceb closed due to disruptions caused by lockdowns the government imposed to contain the spread of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

In Mandaue City, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Steven Yu said they expect the employment trajectory to recover albeit slowly.

“Our employment is expected to gradually improve towards year end but it will be a slow recovery. Our BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing) and industrial companies are trying to ramp up capacities despite the difficult balancing act of keeping the workplace safe and increasing the number of returning workers,” he said.

However, Yu said, the economic slowdown in different cities in the country will lead to a weak purchasing power, which will slow the demand of products.

“Hence, our capacities will also plateau later,” he said. (JOB)

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