Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III somberly reported more bad news that about 4 million more workers may lose their jobs by the end of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect businesses in the country.
“It could be bigger, but we are looking at a possible resurgence of the BPO,” he said referring to the business process outsourcing industry.
Call centers and back offices of foreign companies in the Philippines are expected to generate more jobs this year as businesses worldwide try to outsource several services to save funds during the crisis, experts claim.
Some 2,000 businesses earlier advised DOLE about either declaring permanent closure, redundancy, or retrenchment after the long community quarantine period affected revenues and operations.
Meanwhile, DOLE is eyeing a P40-billion wage subsidy program to help some companies retain workers during the COVID-19 crisis.
In April, the Philippines’ unemployment rate hit 17.7 percent during the lockdown in Luzon. This means there are around 7.3 million jobless Filipinos during this crisis.
