The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Thursday identified the Philippine garment industry as among those severely affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Asia-Pacific region.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on the Philippine garment industry, cutting exports by almost 40% to major buyer countries, and putting the livelihoods and employment of more than 600,000 workers at risk," the ILO said in a new research titled "How COVID-19 is affecting garment workers and factories in Asia and the Pacific."
According to the research, the total combined imports to the United States, Europe and Japan from ten major apparel and footwear producing countries in Asia also fell significantly between January and June 2020, when compared to the same period in 2019.
It added that the largest percentage decreases in exports were observed in China, India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
The research said delayed or inadequate payments to apparel workers—both employed workers and those on furlough or unemployed—have led to protests in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines among others.
The ILO said the COVID-19 crisis has hit the garment sector in the Asia-Pacific region hard, with plummeting retail sales in key export markets affecting workers and enterprises throughout supply chains.
It said major buying countries’ imports from garment-exporting countries in Asia dropped by up to 70 percent in the first half of 2020, due to "collapsing consumer demand, government lockdown measures, and disruptions to raw material imports necessary for garment production."
"As of September 2020, almost half of all jobs in garment supply chains were dependent on demand for garments from consumers living in countries with the most stringent lockdown measures in place, where retail sales have plummeted. The Asia-Pacific region employed an estimated 65 million garment sector workers in 2019, accounting for 75 percent of all garment workers worldwide," said ILO.
Although governments in the region have responded proactively to the crisis, the research said the closure of thousands of factories across the region, either temporarily or indefinitely, worker layoffs and dismissals have increased sharply, while factories that have reopened are often operating at reduced workforce capacity.
“The typical garment worker in the region lost out on at least two to four weeks of work and saw only three in five of her co-workers called back to the factory when it reopened. Declines in earnings and delays in wage payments were also common among garment workers still employed in the second quarter of 2020,” said Christian Viegelahn, Labour Economist at the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
In addition, the research said women, who make up the majority of the workers, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, exacerbating existing inequalities in earnings, workload, occupational segregation, and distribution of unpaid care work.
Ms Chihoko Asada Miyakawa, ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific said the research aims to highlight the massive impact COVID-19 has had on the garment industry at every level.
"It is vital that governments, workers, employers and other industry stakeholders work together to navigate these unprecedented conditions and help forge a more human-centred future for the industry.” she said.
The new ILO research assesses the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on supply chains, factories and workers in 10 major garment-producing countries in the region: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.