The unemployment surge is only temporary and the number of unemployed Filipinos is expected to go down now that the country has transitioned to a less restrictive general community quarantine, Cabinet officials said on Monday. “The unemployment was a result of the decision to put a big part of the country under ECQ (enhanced community quarantine). The unemployment rate surged to 17.7 percent in April, the highest since the 8.4-percent rate recorded in 2005. The unemployment rate was equivalent to an estimated 7.3 million jobless people, higher than the 2.3 million in the same month in 2019. There is a process for applying for SSS unemployment insurance and definitely that is implementable immediately,” he said in the same online briefing.

Source: Manila Times June 08, 2020 16:18 UTC