The Philippines has tallied the highest losses in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region in terms of working hours in 2020, a new study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) said.
"The Philippines saw the largest working hour losses among ASEAN countries in 2020 with an annual decrease of 13.6 percent," the study titled "COVID-19 and the ASEAN labour market: Impact and policy response" stated.
According to ILO's labor economist, Christian Viegelahn, the country's working hour losses is "driven by several factors, not only one factor". Among the significant factors was the implementation of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) at the start of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic last year.
"I do think the Philippines was one of the countries with the strictest lockdown measures in the course of 2020. So this is certainly one factor that contributed to that," Viegelahn said during a virtual briefing Friday, Aug. 13.
"But I do think with the Philippines, it's true for many other countries in the region is that it's really the combined impact that roughly half of these working losses is caused by people losing their jobs and the other half is caused by people that might have kept their job but have to reduce their working hours simply because of various factors like restrictions, or there was no demand, and other reasons as well," the economist further explained.
Among the heavily-impacted sectors, he added, are the tourism sector, retail sale, hotels and restaurants, arts and entertainment, construction, and some manufacturing businesses.
ILO said that in 2020, there were 10.6 million fewer workers in employment in the region than what would have been expected had there been no COVID pandemic.
"The region recorded working-hour losses of 8.4 percent in 2020, equivalent to the working time of about 24 million full-time workers while labor income fell by 7.8 percent," it said.
Labor market conditions expected to deteriorate
"In the second half of 2021, labour market conditions are expected to deteriorate further due to the ongoing wave of the COVID-19 pandemic," ILO said.
According to the organization, the entire region suffered working hour losses of 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021 and 6.2 percent in the second quarter.
It projected that for the entire 2021, ASEAN is expected to see losses in working hours of 7.4 percent in the baseline scenario and 7.0 percent and 7.9 percent in the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
It further projected that "working hours in the ASEAN region are projected to only partially recover in 2021 and 2022."
“The crisis has laid bare the vulnerabilities of the economies and labour markets in the region. With the situation likely to persist for some time, the urgency grows for ASEAN countries to accelerate the policies and programmes that will boost the resilience of enterprises, workers and households and set stronger foundations for decent work for all,” said Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa, ILO’s Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
"ASEAN countries have collectively allocated nearly 16 percent of GDP on the fiscal stimulus response as of the end of May 2021. However, further policy action in the realm of social protection, enterprise support and labour protections will be needed to ensure a human-centered recovery from the crisis in the ASEAN region," ILO said.