At least 39,000 Filipinos have lost their jobs since October last year as factories and companies slash jobs amid the deepening global financial crisis, an official said Monday.
The 39,000 included more than 5,400 overseas-based Filipinos who had lost their jobs in the Middle East and Taiwan, which accounted for the bulk of the returning expatriates, Labour Secretary Marianito Roque said.
He said the figure was based on official reports by industry leaders as well as trade groups, he said.
He said the government has allotted seven billion pesos (US$149 million) to create 180,000 "emergency jobs" this year as a stop-gap measure to prevent unemployment from ballooning.
"As of last Friday we have about 39,000 fall outs. These are workers who have lost their jobs mainly in the electronics and manufacturing sector," Roque told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
He said the government has enough resources to create temporary employment opportunities in the next two years, but will be hard pressed if the crisis extends beyond that.
Roque noted that many Filipinos lost their jobs in the real estate and services sector in Dubai, but have managed to find employment elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.
He said of the estimated 300,000 Filipinos in the Emirates, 2,000 were now out of work.
Job orders for Filipino nurses in the United States is also "dropping" with only 700 contracts up for grabs last year, compared with up to 8000 available three years ago, he said.
The 39,000 included more than 5,400 overseas-based Filipinos who had lost their jobs in the Middle East and Taiwan, which accounted for the bulk of the returning expatriates, Labour Secretary Marianito Roque said.
He said the figure was based on official reports by industry leaders as well as trade groups, he said.
He said the government has allotted seven billion pesos (US$149 million) to create 180,000 "emergency jobs" this year as a stop-gap measure to prevent unemployment from ballooning.
"As of last Friday we have about 39,000 fall outs. These are workers who have lost their jobs mainly in the electronics and manufacturing sector," Roque told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
He said the government has enough resources to create temporary employment opportunities in the next two years, but will be hard pressed if the crisis extends beyond that.
Roque noted that many Filipinos lost their jobs in the real estate and services sector in Dubai, but have managed to find employment elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.
He said of the estimated 300,000 Filipinos in the Emirates, 2,000 were now out of work.
Job orders for Filipino nurses in the United States is also "dropping" with only 700 contracts up for grabs last year, compared with up to 8000 available three years ago, he said.
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