All industries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic after almost two years of on and off lockdowns. Companies down-sized, leaving numerous Filipinos out of their regular jobs, while some continue to be affected by flexible work arrangements at home. As for some enterprises, they are left with no choice but to temporarily close their operations. 

Because of all this, it has brought the country’s unemployment rate to an estimate of 8.1 percent, according to the data gathered from the August 2021 Labor Force Survey (LFS) held by Philippine Statistics Office (PSO). It states that the total number of unemployed persons in August 2021 was estimated at 3.88 million individuals 15 years old and over. 

At the peak of the pandemic, only jobs at health care facilities remained in demand while jobs for both public and private establishments were severely affected. While the economy recovers, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies became in demand. Job offers for information technology, customer service representatives, programmers, encoders even for app and game developers had begun to open. Some temporarily closed businesses also started operating following safety protocols that were allowed by the government. 

The House of Representatives Committee on Labor and Employment recently approved a bill providing an unemployment assurance benefit fund for employees. House Bill No. 5701 is entitled “An Act Mandating Private Business Enterprises to Contribute and Set Aside an Amount for the Benefit of its Employees and Contractee’s Employees or the Unemployment Labor Assurance Mutual Fund”. 

The bill seeks to mandate employers to provide an unemployment assurance benefit fund for employees which would help balance the interest of both labor and capital by discouraging contractualization and also promoting regularization.

Covered under the bill are private business enterprises employing and/or contracting the services of at least 500 employees, whether regular or non-regular, including anyone employed or contracted for less than six months, except those employed for a specific result which may be achieved within less than six months.

In comparison to the country’s unemployment rate of 10.2 percent in 2020, based on the same Labor Force Survey of the PSO, the status of employment in the Philippines got a little better. Meanwhile, underemployment in the country continues to be addressed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the national government. 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of POLITICO.PH

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Clarisse Rafols is a student at the University of the East, taking up Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She is a former officer of UE Journalism Society and is currently an intern for Politico aiming to become a learned journalist to serve the general public with factual information.