THE global financial crisis has significantly reduced the Filipinos’ working hours this year, the World Bank says.
“An estimated 35 percent of those who were working during the first quarter of 2009 experienced a reduction in income or hours of work because of adjustments made by firms in response to the crisis,” the Bank says in its quarterly update on the Philippines.
It says about 76 percent of workers in manufacturing and 64 percent of workers in the wholesale and retail trade reported reductions in their income or working hours.
By comparison, less than 21 percent of workers in agriculture were affected, the Bank says.
Pulse Asia Inc. conducted the Bank’s survey in May this year with February to April 2009 as reference period. Pulse Asia surveyed 1,600 households, including 300 each in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Metro Manila, and 200 households each in the Laguna and Cavite economic zones.
The Bank has warned about the deterioration of the labor market in the Philippines.
“As labor market prospects lag economic activity, the labor market is expected to continue to weaken throughout 2009 and remain weak for most of 2010,” the Bank said.
It says more Filipino workers are expected to move to lower quality jobs, with those having paid jobs moving to unpaid jobs or from wage and salaried work to self-employment.
“With the declining quality of employment and real income, the poverty incidence in 2009 could deteriorate slightly from the 32.9 percent rate measured in 2006,” the Bank said.
The good news is that falling commodity prices have significantly cushioned the increase in poverty.
“Had prices remained at their mid-2008 peak, poverty incidence could have grown by some 4 percentage points,” the Bank said.
The National Statistics Office has reported that unemployment fell to 7.5 percent in April 2009 from a year ago, but the World Bank says this was because the share of current employment to the total adult population has increased. –Roderick T. dela Cruz, Manila Standard Today
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
