The upcoming two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) may lead to a rise in unemployment in the National Capital Region (NCR) at a time when employment numbers are already improving.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Assistant Secretary Dominique R. Tutay bared in a virtual briefing Monday, August 2, that from March to July this year, the agency actually recorded a downward trend in unemployment figures.
Tutay, citing administrative data, said about 46,000 were unemployed in March. It gradually went down from 36,000 displaced workers in April, to just to 27,000 unemployed in July, which was last month.
"So ibig sabihin talagang improving tayo but given the two-week ECQ, and we know that NCR represents about 30 to 40 percent of the total employment natin, maaaring sumipa na naman po yung ating mga unemployment (This means that we are really improving but given the two-week ECQ-- and we know that NCR represents about 30 to 40 percent of our total employment-- our unemployment rate could worsen again)," Tutay said.
"Alam naman natin kahit dalawang linggo lang 'yan , malaki ang impact niyan sa ekonomiya at sa employment (Even if it's only for two weeks, we know that the ECQ would still created a huge impact to our economy and employment)," Tutay added.
"Yung mga establishment, bumubwelo na sana. Okay na, eh. Tapos bigla na naman silang magsa-shutdown (Business establishments were already gaining momentum. It was beginning to be okay but they have to shut down again)."
She also emphasized that workers under reduced work day arrangement may take the hit when the entire NCR reverts back to the strictest community quarantine.
From January to July 30, 2021, there were 127,300 workers under the reduced work day scheme in the NCR.
"So makikita natin na kapag ganito yung bilang ng mga trabahante, maaaring sila yung maapektuhan kasi unang una, reduced na nga yung working days tapos hindi ka na papayagan during the ECQ kasi maraming bawal. Ito most likely yung impact nung two weeks na lockdown (Looking at this figure, these are the workers who may be affected because while they are now under reduced work days, it's possible that they won't be allowed to work during the ECQ due to the restrictions. They will most likely take the hit from the two-week lockdown)," Tutay said.
From January to July this year, there were also 152,987 displaced workers in NCR. This could grow to an additional 30,000 to 40,000 displaced workers in August due to the lockdown.
"So, if you combine that it could lead to 300,000 to 400,000 displaced workers, which was earlier pronounced also by Secretary Ramon Lopez and Secretary Karl Chua," Tutay said.