DOLE: Close to 200K workers displaced nationwide from January to May

Almost two hundred thousand workers have been displaced all over the country in the first five months of 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hamper business activities, data released by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday showed.

In its regular job displacement monitoring report, the DOLE said a total of 191,117 workers were displaced nationwide from 6,602 establishments from January to May 30, 2021.

It said 91% or 5,714 establishments reduced their workforce while 9% or 888 reported permanent closure.

The National Capital Region recorded the most number of displaced workers at 114,178. It was followed by Region VII with 20,632 workers displaced.

The rest of displaced workers per region are as follows:

• Region III: 18,345
• CALABARZON: 12,819
• MIMAROPA: 7,288
• Region VI: 5,436
• Region I: 2,859
• Region V: 2,795
• Region XI: 1,747
• Region X: 1,438
• Region II: 976
• Region XII: 934
• CAR: 617
• Region VII: 482
• CARAGA: 306
• Region IX: 165

The DOLE said that the month of February tallied the highest number of reporting establishments at 26% or 1,743 displacing 46,518 workers.

This is followed by the month of January with 1,421 reporting establishments at 22% share covering 25,226 workers nationwide.

In terms of major industry groups, most displaced workers were under construction at 27% or 51,403 and other service activities at 16% or 30,685.

Below is the breakdown of the number of displaced workers by major industry groups:

• Accommodation and food service activities: 11,640
• Administrative and support service activities: 19,836
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 1,190
• Arts, entertainment and recreation: 5,113
• Construction: 51,403
• Education: 2,854
• Electricity, gas, stream and air conditioning supply: 541
• Financial and insurance activities: 3,065
• Human health and social work activities: 2,555
• Information and communication: 8,843
• Manufacturing: 16,377
• Mining and quarrying: 465
• Other service activities: 30,685
• Professional, scientific and technical activities: 1,747
• Real estate activities: 1,160
• Transportation and storage: 22,139
• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles: 9,929
• Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities: 1,575

Meanwhile, based on the online Establishment Report System data, a total of 21,810 establishments covering 957,879 workers are implementing flexible work arrangements and temporary closure from January 1 to May 30, 2021.

“In terms of establishment size, the majority of establishments which adopted flexible work arrangements were small enterprises (46% or 4,860),” the DOLE said.

“On the other hand, a greater number of establishments under micro enterprises implemented temporary closure (52% or 5,464),” it said.—LDF, GMA News