Job losses due to world crisis tapering off

MANILA, Philippines—Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto has announced that job losses resulting from the global financial crisis were “tapering off.”

In his report at the Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, he said the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector alone was expected to generate around 500,000 jobs in Mindanao, particularly in South Cotobato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangai and General Santos City.

“Business process outsourcing is robust and the non-voice services will complement the job generators in the call centers,” Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III quoted Recto as saying in a media briefing.

Bello said the 14,000 workers displaced months ago had been rehired by their respective companies.

He said the second phase of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) project for C-5 would also create 100,000 jobs.

So far, he said 75,000 workers had benefited from the government’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program. –Christian V. Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer