Nearly half of Filipino workers, 27.3 million, say they’re jobless. Labor officials insist that only 3.3 million lost jobs since the pandemic struck, based on companies’ filing for layoffs. In fact the Philippine Statistics Authority, as official records-keeper, counted 7.3 million unemployed as of April, double the labor officials’ claim. They note that 26 percent of nearly a million micro, small and medium enterprises closed shop. Again that’s nearly half of MSMEs, the backbone of the economy, broken.

Source: Philippine Star August 18, 2020 15:56 UTC