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Philippines: ‘Delta variant poses risk to recovery’
MANILA, Philippines — The stricter lockdown measures aimed to slow the spread of the more infectious COVID Delta variant pose serious challenges to the economy and the labor market, a Department of Finance official said.
Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil Beltran said the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces or NCR Plus from Aug. 6 to 20 could impact on the continued recovery from the pandemic-induced recession.
“The subsequent reimposition of stricter quarantine measures in August will have consequences on the nascent green shoots. Such measures are nevertheless precautionary in nature to prevent the much greater evil of spikes in daily cases,” Beltran said.
He said that the labor market shows continued recovery, with 359,000 jobs created in June as month-on-month labor force participation and employment both rose.
Data showed the number of employed persons increased by 0.8 percent month-on-month, while those not in the labor force also declined by 1.31 percent, partly contributing to the 0.91 percent rise in the number of the unemployed.
Beltran pointed out that the employment and unemployment rates were steady at 92.29 percent and 7.71 percent in June, respectively, while underemployment rose to 14.22 percent versus the pre-pandemic rate of 14.81 percent.
Despite the gradual recovery in June, Beltran said jobs lost when NCR Plus was placed under ECQ and modified ECQ from March to May have not yet been recovered.
“The imposition of stricter quarantine measures in the NCR Plus bubble area cost the economy more than two million jobs lost in April. The easing of restrictions recovered more than 1.4 million jobs in May and another 360,000 in June, leaving some quarter million jobs yet to be recovered from the March employment level,” he said.
According to Beltran, the arrival of more COVID-19 vaccine supplies and the ramped up inoculation among the population led by economic frontliners would help the country on the way to weathering the global health crisis.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/08/13/2119537/delta-variant-poses-risk-recovery