Pandemic leaves over 400K workers jobless in 2020

MANILA – More than 400,000 workers from some 26,000 business establishments were displaced last year due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Thursday.

The department’s 2020 Job Displacement Report showed that a total of 428,701 employees from 26,060 establishments were left without jobs nationwide from January to December 2020.

It said 90 percent or 23,324 companies have adopted reduced workforce while the reminding 10 percent (2,736) reported permanent closure.

The National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the most number of affected workers at 210,157 from 12,023 companies.

It was followed by Calabarzon (Region 4-A) with 56,223 displaced workers from 2,985 establishments while Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9) has the least number of affected workers at 1,615 from 164 businesses.

The month of October tallied the most number of reporting establishments (23 percent or 5,934) displacing 67,609 workers, followed by month of November with 4,838 reporting companies (19 percent) covering 94,711 affected workers nationwide.

The top three sectors with the highest number of affected workers are from administrative and support service activities with 80,803 from 2,599 establishments; other service activities with 79,522 from 4,617 companies and manufacturing, involving 51,793 employees from 2,202 establishments.

The report is sourced from notices of shutdown and retrenchment submitted by employers to the DOLE Regional Offices.