300,000 could lose jobs in Philippines

He said that a “worst-case scenario” would see the number of jobless rise to between 250,000 and 300,000 by the end of June.

He described the job cuts so far, which include more than 10,000 in the Calabarzon industrial belt south of Manila, as being within the “manageable level” in relation to a nationwide work force of about 37 million.

Unemployment in the Philippines currently stands at 6.8 percent.

The government is holding talks with employers' groups to ease the fallout from the global economic downturn, which has heavily hit the country's two top export earners electronics and garments, where most jobs have gone so far.

Manila has asked business groups to prepare measures to mitigate the impact on their workers and use job cuts only as a last resort, he added.

Job creation is tough in the Philippines, where some 27 million people live on a dollar a day or less and where one in three adults are unemployed or underemployed, according to official data.

Jennifer Manalili, head of the labor department's Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, said that as a last resort Manila could export more of its work force.

There is an unmet demand for 389,000 jobs abroad, including more than 100,000 in Qatar and 12,000 in Kuwait, Roque said.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email