Over 121,000 Filipinos' jobs axed amid global recession

Over 121,000 Filipino workers have either lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts or reduced work loads because of the economic crisis, a government official said Sunday.

Between October last year and mid-March, 11,574 permanently lost their jobs and 38,806 others were temporarily laid off by Philippines-based companies, Labour Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz told an economic forum in this industrial enclave north of Manila.

A total of 59,149 others were placed on flexible work arrangements, she added.

Meanwhile, 12,000 out of the 8.5 million-strong Filipino work force abroad had lost their jobs, mostly in Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to Baldoz.

Last week the government said electronics firms based in the Philippines began giving their remaining workers half-pay or 150 pesos (3.11 dollars) a day in a bid to keep them employed until demand picks up again.

The labour undersecretary said the electronics sector was the worst hit with almost half the total work force affected.

The crisis has also hit about 10 per cent of employees in the automotive, garments, mining, property, services, and woodworking industries, she added.

She went on to say the government expects the crisis to bottom out over the next few months as just 397 workers a day were losing their jobs in mid-March compared to 437 at the start of the month.

"Before the first semester ends, we could say that the worst is over," she said.

"In the next five months, workers' displacements will continue but we expect it to be on a slower pace and only in the export manufacturing sector."

Agencies

Has Accenture sacked half Manila workforce?

US-based outsourcing firm Accenture is laying off almost half its workforce in the Philippine capital due to the effects of the global financial crisis, the Labour Department said.

Accenture Philippines has filed a notice of retrenchment for about 500 workers at its facilities in Manila, said Labour Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Accenture, which engages in business process outsourcing, including call centres, had about a thousand workers in Manila and in March 2008 it opened an office in the central city of Cebu which employs about 500 people.

Call centres and other outsourced business processes have become a major industry in the Philippines. Industry leaders had previously predicted that the sector would not be affected by the global financial turmoil as companies in developed countries would outsource more of their functions abroad to save money during the crisis.

Agencies