ILOILO City – With the easing of quarantine restrictions enforced to curtail spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), employment rate in Western Visayas rose in the beginning of the third quarter this year.
Data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) showed employment rate in Region 6 reached 93.26 in July this year, higher than the 92.5 posted in April and 90.9 in January.
More establishments gradually reopen, especially in the city and province of Iloilo, ushering more employees back to their works, said John Mandario, information officer of DOLE-6 in an interview with Panay News.
Iloilo city and province were under the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the second quarter of 2021 wherein only limited businesses and establishments were allowed to operate.
“Constant ang pagsaka niya (trend). Damo nag-open nga establishments. Understandable naman nga sang 2020 gin-igu gid kita sang pandemic,” added Mandario.
Mandario expects the upward trend will sustain, especially now that almost all areas in Western Visayas have relaxed their quarantine measures.
As the employment rate rises, it follows that the unemployment rate declines, said Mandario.
In January 2021, unemployment reached 9.1 percent. It dropped to 7.5 in April and further plunged to 6.74 in July.
Earlier, Mandario said between Jan. 1 and Sept. 12 this year, a total of 99,957 workers from 4,150 establishments were affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 1,937 establishments resorted to reducing work days, affecting 57,239 workers, while 1,343 establishments temporarily closed doors with 33,984 workers affected.
Meanwhile, 7,986 workers from 781 establishments were retrenched.
Mandario said the sectors that adopted flexible work arrangements and had reduced the number of workers included food, accommodation, agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
Moreover, 748 workers have either gone jobless or found other jobs when 89 establishments in the region permanently closed.
These were workers from the accommodation, food services, arts, and entertainment and recreation sectors, according to Mandario./PN