MANILA, Philippines—The COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to stop transmission of SARS Cov2, the virus that causes the disease, have driven up to 7.3 million Filipinos out of their jobs in 2020, starting at the height of movement restrictions in April that year.
The unemployment rate zoomed to 17.7 percent at that time, the highest since 2005.
When a new surge of COVID-19 cases went on a rampage in 2021 in the National Capital Region (NCR) and another round of restrictions was imposed, at least 3.4 million Filipinos lost their jobs, according to government data.
The numbers, however, don’t tell the story of Dina, 23, who came to Metro Manila in 2019 to find a job as…
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