TUCP sees 12 million job losses

Neda warns of 15% jobless rate in recession-hit economy

File photo / AFP

The country’s largest labor group said job losses could hit 12 million before the year ends as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said unemployment is likely to hit a 15-year high as the economy slides into recession.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Thursday the biggest job losses come from accommodation and food services, where more than a third of workers have lost employment, followed by arts and recreation services, where 27 percent of staff have found themselves out of work.

With no end in sight for the coronavirus health crisis, calls for social distancing are taking a bite out of service sector jobs that depend on customer interactions or involve the congregation of large numbers of people.

“Workers in industries such as restaurants, hotels, school care services, retail trade, and transportation services are at a higher risk of losing their jobs,” the TUCP said.

The TUCP said other sectors hard hit by job losses were “other services” (15 percent), real estate services (12 percent), administration and support (11 percent) and agriculture, forestry and fisheries (10 percent).

The labor group said at least 50 percent workers in retail trade and food services and drinking places were displaced by the COVID 19 crisis and could see even more job losses due to public health restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

These two industries alone employ nearly 3 million Filipinos, the TUCP said.

Citing Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, the group expressed alarm over the sharp rise in the unemployment rate, which jumped to 17.7 percent in the June quarter of 2020 from 5.1 percent in the same quarter a year earlier.

Strict stay-at-home rules forced most business operations to shut down. Those who can work from home were allowed to, but casual workers were forced into “no work, no pay” schemes since mid-March.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg TV, acting NEDA director-general and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the country is already in recession, as recent data showed that the economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the first quarter, a reversal of the 5.7 percent growth a year ago and 6.4 percent a quarter ago due to COVID-19.

Economists predict the second-quarter numbers could be even more grim as the lockdowns were extended several times to encompass the period from April to June.

A recession is characterized by two straight quarters of economic contraction.

If that happens, a double-digit jobless rate will be the highest in 15 years since it hit 8.4 percent in April 2005.

Based on the April 2020 Labor Force Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on June 5, the unemployment rate rose to a record 17.7 percent accounting to 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos. This was significantly higher than the 5.1 percent unemployment rate in April 2019.

PSA said the record-high unemployment rate “reflected the effects of the COVID-19 economic shutdown on the Philippine labor market.”

The employment rate in April 2020 fell to 82.3 percent from 94.9 percent in April 2019. It was also lower than the 94.7 percent in January 2020. This translates to 33.8 million employed persons in April 2020, sharply down from 41.8 million in April 2019.

The average number of hours worked per week also fell to 35 in April 2020 from 41.8 hours per week in April 2019.

All regions reported double-digit unemployment rates. The highest unemployment rate was in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM) at 29.8 percent.

It was followed by Region III (Central Luzon) and Cordillera Administrative Region with unemployment rates recorded at 27.3 percent and 25.3 percent, respectively.

The International Labor Organization (ILO), meanwhile, said policies need to be put in place to protect stranded migrant workers and to ensure the reintegration of those who return to their home countries.

Tens of millions of migrant workers, forced to return home because of the COVID-19 pandemic after losing their jobs, face unemployment and poverty in their home countries, the ILO said.

As containment measures ease, millions of migrant workers may be required to return home to low and middle income countries where labor markets, which were fragile before the COVID-19 outbreak, are now further weakened by the additional strain of high levels of unemployment and serious business disruptions due to the pandemic. In addition, their families will suffer financially from the loss of the remittances normally sent to them.

Meanwhile, other migrant workers have found themselves stranded in host countries without access to social protection and little money for food or accommodation. Even those with jobs may be taking reduced wages and living in cramped worksite residences where social distancing is impossible, putting them at greater risk of contracting the virus.

Almost all of the world’s workers, some 94 percent, were living in countries with some type of workplace closure measures in place in May 2020, according to the UN Secretary-General’s Policy Brief on the World of Work and COVID-19 .

Massive losses in working hours, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs, are predicted for the second quarter of 2020, while 38 percent of the workforce – some 1.25 billion workers – is employed in high-risk sectors.

The brief says small and medium-sized enterprises – the engine of the global economy – are suffering immensely and many may not recover. Those living in developing countries and fragile contexts face the most dramatic risks, in part because they have least resilience.

The policy brief, based on data and analysis from the ILO, warns that many of those people who have lost their jobs and livelihoods in recent months will not be able to re-enter labor markets any time soon.

Women have been particularly hard hit. They are disproportionately represented in high-risk sectors and are often amongst the first to lose employment and the last to return. Persons with disabilities, already facing exclusion in employment, are also more likely to experience greater difficulties returning to work during recovery. - by Vito Barcelo and Julito G. Rada

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Stop all forms of Contractualization

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1 M new grads may have no jobs – TUCP

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) over the weekend said fresh graduates would have difficulty finding immediate employment due to additional hiring requirements. Most employers are demanding additional qualifications that would require more training for job applicants.

Manila , Philippines – More than one million college students will likely end up jobless after their graduation a few weeks from now, the country’s largest labor group said.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) over the weekend said fresh graduates would have difficulty finding immediate employment due to additional hiring requirements.

Most employers are demanding additional qualifications that would require more training for job applicants.

“This additional layer in the procedure could mean additional training which entails further cost and perseverance for the applicant. While those who fall through the cracks will become unemployed or underemployed,” said TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay.

Tanjusay also noted that the worsening job-skills mismatch can also derail fresh graduates’ chance to find employment after graduation.

Citing data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Tanjusay said very few applicants were hired on the spot in government-initiated job fairs for the past two years.

“Out of the 4,239,392 domestic and international job vacancies offered in 3,686 year-round job fairs activities held in 2014 and 2015 nationwide, only 391,088 were hired on the spot out of the 1,286,073 applicants,” he said.

“This job-skills mismatch crisis in the country has been going on and it continues to grow. Competition is getting higher, so employers are putting additional qualifications into the job descriptions,” he added.

Tanjusay also warned that heightened competitiveness at the job market, with little or no adjustment on the part of the learning institutions, make job hunting in the country worse than ever.

Records from the Commission on Higher Education showed there were 656,284 college graduates in March 2015 while records from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority showed there were 1.6 million individuals certified as of October 2015.

The DOLE identified 275 key occupations and 102 hard-to-fill occupations as part of the ongoing efforts to address the country’s high unemployment rate, particularly among the youth. - By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)

TUCP: 'Job-skill mismatch' faces 2016 graduates

Photo by Philippine Star

College graduates this year may find it difficult to land jobs because their skills may not match the employers' requirements, a labor group said Sunday.

"This job-skills mismatch crisis in the country has been on going and it continues to grow. Competition is getting higher so employers are putting additional qualifications into the job descriptions for them to compete. Heightened competitiveness at the job market without or little adjustment at the learning institutions is what makes this crisis thrive," Trade Union congress of the Philippines spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a statement.

The TUCP cited data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that shows only 391,088 out of the 1,286.073 applicants were hired on the spot in 3,686 job fairs held in 2014 and 2015.

Data from the Commission on Higher Education, meanwhile, showed that there were 656,284 college graduates in March 2015 and nearly 1.6 million individuals finished their training courses from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

"With employers adding more qualifications, graduates' credentials will be scrutinized longer," Tanjunsay said, "This additional layer in the procedure could mean additional training which entails further cost and perseverance for the applicant."

Tanjunsay said the increased standards being implemented by employers will eventually lead to graduates facing underemployment or worse, unemployment.

The DOLE has identified 102 occupations that are "hard-to-fill" or job vacancies which employers are having difficulty to fill because applicants do not meet the skills' requirements.

Hard-to-fill jobs include 2D digital animator, agricultural designer, bioinformatics analyst, cosmetic dentist and surgeon, cuisine chef, multi-lingual tour guide, and mechatronics engineer among others.

The department has also listed 275 jobs in-demand. These jobs, according to DOLE, have high turnover and replacement rate.

Such occupations include abaca pulp processor, bangus driver, bamboo materials craftsman, fish cage caretaker, mussel grower and reefman. —Kiersnerr Gerwin Tacadena/ALG, GMA News

TUCP tells Aquino: Lead from the front

THE largest labor organization in the country, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), on Monday called on President Benigno Aquino 3rd to “lead from the front” and convene a “national summit for a jobs program” and a “national summit on power, water and public transport.”

“The TUCP believes that all sectors of society will rally behind the President once he takes the cudgels for the real issues that plague the country today: unemployment, the power crisis, the impending water crisis and the public transport breakdown,” TUCP Executive Director Luis Corral said.

According to him, “(t)he Left and their outworn ideological prescriptions are now outwearing the welcome and tolerance of those who simply want investments that create decent jobs and arguably the governance reforms of Aquino are creating such a window of opportunity.”

“In the same vein, there are those presuming to speak for the basic social sectors in advancing a narrative of succession in 2015, (with one) painting a false picture of the administration and the other is doing a disservice to the nation in distracting the President from the real problems he has to address in the last two years of his administration,” Corral said.

He added that Aquino’s “failure to take up these real problems, not the elite discourse on 2015 succession, will be the prelude to an economic meltdown and collapse of his social contract” with the people,” he added.

The TUCP pointed out that a recent Social Weather Stations survey on joblessness and the static 7.1 percent unemployment rate represent the true picture of how far economic inclusiveness still has to go, that the power crisis is having a chilling effect on locators and investors and may lead to a new round of job retrenchments.

It said even as clogged ports have led to some 20,000 workers being laid off, ordinary workers risk death and amputation everyday as they take the dilapidated Metro Rail Transit 3 train system daily.

Meanwhile, the TUCP accused the government of playing deaf to cries of the National Water and Resources Board that El Nino threatens the country’s water supply for drinking purposes, agricultural use and electricity generation.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said the President is badly served by high officials preparing their golden parachutes or warming their chairs preparing for future electoral campaigns. - JING VILLAMENTE / Manila Times

TUCP: Real issues must be addressed

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines yesterday asked President Aquino to “lead from the front” and convene a national summit for a jobs program, on power, on water, and on public transport.

TUCP executive director Luis Corral said his group believes all sectors of society will rally behind Aquino if he addresses the “real issues” of unemployment, power crisis, impending water crisis, and “public transport breakdown.”

“It is the President who has a mandate. He has only to convene all groups so that they–and not the proxy poor, the proxy peasant and the proxy marginalized–can speak for themselves,” he said.

He said the leftist groups “and their outworn ideological prescriptions are now outwearing the welcome and tolerance of those who simply want investments that create decent jobs.”

“In the same vein there are those presuming to speak for the basic social sectors in advancing a narrative of succession in 2015,” Corral said.

Corral said the TUCP is appealing to Aquino not to be distracted.

“The divergence of political and economic goals heard from the left, the right and all points in between in the last few days shows that there are a mixed bag of opportunists, pretenders, and political engineers who are on the one hand trying to lead the country from behind and on the other hand, perennial ideological nitpickers trying to derail the political and economic gains of the last four years,” he said.

TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said a national summit on jobs and consumer issues will catalyze the silent majority who placed their trust in an Aquino presidency.

He said “assigning blame and politicking” are not what the silent majority is concerned about.

Corral said consultations on power ordered by the President in his state of the nation address last July have not brought ordinary consumers and workers on board.

“It appears to be a discourse of various Makati interest groups, who are elbowing each other out to promote their preferred gas turbines, power barges or interruptible load programs (ILP). It is again, and wrongly so, about how much will one group earns and what kind of price Juan dela Cruz will end up paying for both as taxpayer and consumer,” said Corral. - Malaya

National summit on unemployment, power pushed

BAGUIO CITY , Philippines – President Aquino was asked yesterday to call a national summit to resolve problems on unemployment, power, water and the breakdown of the public transport system.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) executive director Luis Corral said Aquino must lead a national summit to draw up plans to promote job creation and ensure affordable power.

“The President should let the poor speak for themselves,” he said. “The fate of the water and rapid transport programs should not be allowed to follow that of the power sector.”

Corral said all sectors must rally behind Aquino when he takes up the cudgels on these issues besetting the nation today.

“Failure to take up these real problems, not the elite discourse on 2016 succession, will be the prelude to an economic meltdown and collapse of his social contract with the Filipino people,” he said.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said a national summit on jobs and consumer issues will catalyze the silent majority who placed their trust in the Aquino presidency.

“The current discourse of assigning blame and politicking on the one hand, and the redemptive forecasting by others for 2016 on the other hand, is not what the silent majority is concerned about,” he said.

“The act of governance is, by its nature, fraught with risk, a party can be turned out of power or validated with a new majority. Also, governance is not about redeeming souls, it is about the governance mechanisms that create policies that provide higher salaries for government workers, for roads that close the distance for goods to reach their markets, and making education and healthcare accessible. It is about who will work, in what kind of job, with what kind of compensation and under what kind of conditions.”

Corral said Aquino must convene all groups so they can speak for themselves.

“Instead of being soothed by the siren call of the proxy poor and the substitute proletariat on the relative merits of charity work, Aquino should get down to the task at hand, creating decent jobs and squelching the deficit in power, water and mass transport,” he said.

Corral said the Left and their “outworn ideological prescriptions” are now outwearing the welcome and tolerance of people wanting investments to create jobs and for the governance reforms of Aquino to create “a window of opportunity.”

Some people are painting a false picture of the administration and others are distracting Aquino from the real problems he has to face in the last two years of his administration, he added. – With Mayen Jaymalin - Philstar

Group urges Aquino to address problems via national summit

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Sunday called on President Aquino to take the lead in addressing the problems besetting the country by convening a “national summit for jobs program” and a “national summit on power, water and public transport” to rally the support of the people.

“The TUCP believes that all sectors of society will rally behind the President once he takes the cudgels for the real issues that plague the country today: unemployment, the power crisis, the impending water crisis and the public-transport breakdown,” TUCP Executive Director Luis Corral said in a statement.

The TUCP appeals to Mr. Aquino not to be distracted by the political noise and get down to the task at hand of creating decent jobs and addressing power, water and mass-transport problems.

“It is the President who has a mandate. He has only to convene all groups so that they—and not the proxy poor, the proxy peasant and the proxy marginalized—can speak for themselves. Currently, the jobless see themselves as without hope. And ordinary consumers see apathy from government as the days without power, without water and rolling coffin trains creep upon them,” Corral stressed.

He said even as the clogged ports has led to some 20,000 workers both in the forward and backward supply chain being laid off, ordinary workers risk death and amputation everyday as they take the dilapidated trains daily.

On the other hand, the National Water and Resources Board is playing deaf, even as the El Niño Phenomenon threatens water supply for drinking purposes, agricultural use and electricity generation, he added.

“These are the problems where we need the President to inspire us, to rally us toward collective solutions, especially where collective sacrifice is needed. The political noise of naysayers and the gimmickry of apologists is not a substitute for presidential leadership,” TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.

“Let us focus on the task at hand, and have the President convene and lead summits to address job creations so that workers can feed their families; a summit to ensure reliable and affordable power so that industries can grow, reliable water so that we can live lives with some dignity and mass transport that unclogs our roads and delivers both people and goods safely to their destinations.”

TUCP insisted that a national summit on jobs and also on consumer issues will catalyze the silent majority, who placed their trust in an Aquino presidency. - Jonathan L. Mayuga /Business Mirror

President urged to convene summit on water crisis

The country’s largest labor group urged President Aquino to convene a National Summit, which will discuss solutions for national economic problems, particularly the imminent water shortage next summer.

In a statement, Trade Union Congress of Philippines (TUCP) Executive Director Luis Corral said other issues which should also be included in the proposed meeting would be the looming power shortage, public transportation woes, and the still significantly high unemployment rate in the country.

“Aquino should get down to the task at hand, creating decent jobs and squelching the deficit in power, water and mass transport,” Corral said.

TUCP issued the statement yesterday amid the apparent lack of government preparation for the imminent calamity.

“The high officialdom is playing deaf to the cries of the National Water and Resources Board (NWRB) that El Niño threatens our water supply for drinking purposes, agricultural use and electricity generation,” TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

Water concessionaires earlier warned they may resort to water rationing by next year as the levels in the Angat, which supplies the water in Metro Manila, is expected to further decline with the onset of the El Niño weather phenomenon before the end of 2014.

“The TUCP believes that all sectors of society will rally behind the President once he takes the cudgels for the real issues that plague the country today,” he said.

Corral said the proposed summit would yield better recommendations compared to some of his advisers from the organization, which are “proxy poor, the proxy peasant and the proxy marginalized” as well as those, who want to “lead the country from behind.”

“We appeal to the President not to be distracted by those who wish to waylay economic gains and not to be hijacked by those who wish to take advantage of him when too much of his political capital is being wasted in the legal equivalent of saloon brawls,” Corral said. - Manila Bulletin / Yahoo

Probe sought on surging number of foreign workers

MANILA, Philippines - The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday called on Congress to investigate the surging number of Chinese and other foreigners allegedly working illegally in the country.

TUCP said the Senate and the House of Representatives must conduct a probe and come up with measures to curb the rising number of foreigners working in the country without government permits because this has adverse implications on local industries and in the employment situation of Filipinos.

Under the law, foreigners seeking employment in the Philippines are required to apply for an Alien Employment Permit.

But last week, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested 50 Chinese, one British and one Australian employed at the construction of a coal-fired plant in Davao City for working without permits, the TUCP reported.

The BI also deported last year more than 200 foreign workers employed at construction sites in Bataan and Batangas provinces, again for working without permits, the labor group added.

“There is indeed a clear, continuing and growing violation of our domestic laws. This further undermines the job security in the country as they compete with the already limited jobs generated for the Filipinos in our homeland,” TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay pointed out.

TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza earlier filed House Resolution 974, which seeks to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on illegal foreign workers in the country.

The investigation of Congress, Tanjusay noted, would benefit not only local workers but migrant workers as well, since it would ensure better working conditions for them.

Currently, illegal migrant workers are not covered by the law and therefore vulnerable to violation and exploitation of their basic rights.

Tanjusay also clarified that the TUCP is not against the entry of foreign workers in the country, but of its adverse impact on employment of Filipino workers, who leave the country to work abroad simply because there are no available jobs for them here.

- By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)

TUCP seeks probe of foreigners working in PHL without permits

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Wednesday called for a thorough investigation on the entry of foreigners who are working in the country without government permits.

The group issued the call following the arrest of 52 more foreign workers allegedly working without valid working permits in Davao City last week.

In a statement, TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said the arrest of the 42 foreigners in Davao City is proof that “there is a clear, continuing and growing violation” of the country’s laws.

The increasing incidence of migrants working in the country without government working permits and without fulfilling other requirements for alien workers has very serious adverse implications not only in the local construction industry, fishing, mining and other industries, but also in the current employment and underemployment situation in the country, he said.

Such trend, Tanjusay said, undermines the job security in the country, as these foreign workers compete with the already limited jobs generated for the Filipinos in the country.

For not having valid working permits, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) rounded up last week 50 Chinese, a Briton and an Australian working in the construction of coal-fired power plant Therma South Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp.

There is also a need to investigate Aboitiz Power Corp. on how was it able to hire the foreigners amid the existence of the law, Tanjusay said. He said the foreigners must go through the due process legally mandated by the laws.

Under Department Order 12 (Series of 2001), known as the Omnibus Guidelines for the Issuance of Employment Permits of the Department of Labor and Employment, all foreigners seeking employment in the Philippines are required to apply for an Alien Employment Permit.

In December last year the BI detained and deported more than 200 foreign workers working in construction sites in Bataan and Batangas provinces after they were discovered to have without working permits.

Sen. Miriam-Defensor Santiago filed Senate Resolution 288 in December 2013 and Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza of TUCP filed House Resolution 974 on February 2014 to conduct an inquiry “in aid of legislation” on the matter but to no avail.

According to TUCP, Philippine unemployment rates have remained static on the average of 7 percent the past years. According to the April 2014 Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate was at 7.0 percent or 2.924 million of the total labor force of 38,172,006, excluding the Typhoon Yolanda-stricken areas while 18.2 percent or seven million were underemployed, and about 36.9 percent or 1.078 million of the unemployed are were college undergraduates and graduates.

The World Bank in its Philippine Development Report (PDR) released in September 2013, estimates that about 10 million good jobs are needed to be generated per year which includes jobs for about three million people who are unemployed and seven million that are underemployed, and that the government also needs to create employment for another 1.15 million new entrants to the labor force every year from 2013 to 2016.

On the average, the government can only generate about 240,000 new employment opportunities annually which leave most job-seekers with no choice but to either seek employment abroad, remain unemployed, go back to school, or rely on financial support from employed family members for the time being, Tanjusay added.

- by Jonathan L. Mayuga, BusinessMirror

TUCP calls for probe on presence of illegal foreign workers

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is calling on Congress to immediately conduct legislative inquiries on the continued presence of foreigners illegally employed in the country.

The labor group said there is already a need for Congress to intercede in the issue since many workers are affected by their presence.

"We urge the Senate and the House of Representatives to act on their pending resolutions calling for a probe in aid of legislation on the matter," said TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay in a statement.

He noted how Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and TUCP party-list Representative Raymond Mendoza filed Senate Resolution 288 in December 2013 and House Resolution 974 on February 2014, respectively, both calling for an inquiry on the controversy.

However, Tanjusay noted that no hearing was called by either chamber of Congress since then.

The call comes after several foreign nationals, mostly Chinese, were arrested in Davao City after being found working without valid working permits last month.

Back in December 2013, more than 200 foreign workers employed in construction sites in Bataan and Batangas were also arrested and deported after they were discovered to have without working permit.

Tanjusay said it is unacceptable that domestic laws continue to be violated with the presence of foreigners allegedly working without valid working permits.

"There is indeed a clear, continuing and growing violation of our domestic laws. This undermines the job security in the country, as they compete with the already limited jobs generated for the Filipinos in our homeland," said Tanjusay.

Tanjusay said the presence of the illegal foreign workers ultimately forces local job seekers with no choice but to either seek employment abroad or just remain unemployed.

"We clearly reiterate that TUCP is not against the entry of foreign workers in the country, but of the adverse impact on our very own workers, who are being deprived of potential employment and livelihood opportunities," Tanjusay said.

To note, one of the requirements in getting an Alien Employment Permit (AEP) is the determination of the Labor Secretary that there is no Filipino national who is competent, able and willing to do the job for which the services of the applicant is desired. (HDT/Sunnex)