Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) said on Monday that Roque’s comment — that they were glad that unemployment rates did not hit 100 percent despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — was an affront to the 27.3 million of adult Filipinos who are without jobs. Roque’s reaction came after a Social Weather Stations survey released on Sunday showed that unemployment rates in the country increased by 28 percentage points, from just 17.1 percent in December to the 45.5 percent in July due to the pandemic. With the world’s longest lockdown, the Philippine economy contracted as its gross domestic product shrank by 16.5 percent. “Magugulat ka ba na nawalan ng trabaho sila e samantalang buwan-buwan nang inaabot na naka-lockdown ang ating ekonomiya? The labor group also warned against labeling the bad employment rates as a sign of Filipino resiliency amid the pandemic, stressing it was a sign of the government’s incompetency.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 17, 2020 10:41 UTC