The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is extending the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program from 10 days to 3 to 6 months.
The labor department is also preparing the wage subsidy that will reach 25 to 50 percent for companies that will not layoff any employees during the pandemic.
In the recent data of the DOLE, around 69,022 individuals are unemployed. It pointed out that the 7.3 million unemployed individuals initially reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) are only based on a survey.
The number of companies that closed shop due to more losses than earnings during the community quarantine is at 2,068.
Meanwhile, the DOLE is focusing on the repatriation of more than 16,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) with missing required documents. Bello has also reminded that there are new guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on returning OFWs.
Report from Naomi Tiburcio