THE EFFECT OF JOB

LOSS ON THE FOOD

INSECURITY OF
THE PHILIPPINES
Prepared by:
Lemuel V. Torres
Eric Caisip
Edrick Labarro
 What is Food Insecurity?
Food insecurity is defined as the disruption of
food intake or eating patterns because of lack of
money and other resources.
Example:
A family experiencing food insecurity may have
some members that go hungry and others who do
not. For example, parents in food insecure
families might have enough food to feed their
children, but might experience hunger themselves.
What do you think are the
effects of food insecurity in
the Philippines?
1. Food Insecurity Leads to
Hunger
This makes the government
spend more on feeding the
nation, instead of concentrating
such monies to other projects
such as infrastructure,
healthcare, and education.
2. Increases in Food Prices
This means the prices will
go up and will result in
related items being more
expensive. People’s access
to food, care, feeding and
access to healthcare may
also become limited as a
consequence, making the
nation more insecure.
3. Effects on Children
Children who are food
insecure or come from
families that are food
insecure are more likely to
require hospitalization and
are at a higher risk of chronic
health conditions like anemia
and asthma.
4. Unemployment
When a nation is insecure
about their availability of
food, the economy will slow
down. This means more
people will lose their jobs,
wages will be lost, and losses
in income will be prevalent.
Job Loss
What is job loss?
Job loss refers to the
disappearance of jobs because of
fundamental structural economic
changes as distinct from transient
fluctuations in demand.
 Job Loss in The
Philippines
According to a survey conducted in
the Philippines, 64 percent of
households had a member who lost
their job due to the enhanced
community quarantine (ECQ), that was
implemented in the country on March
16, 2020, because of the coronavirus
COVID-19 pandemic. On the other
hand, 36 percent of the surveyed
respondents stated that none of their
household members were effected.
What do you think are the effects of
job loss in the Philippines?
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
Philippines was experiencing its longest ever
economic and job expansion. There was
remarkable growth in wage and salary
employment (a measure of modern employment),
growing at an average of 4.6% annually from 2015
to 2019.
 This rapid expansion in modern
employment was strong enough to pull
workers away from the informal sector
in such big numbers that total informal
employment was shrinking for the first
time ever in the Philippines.
 3 Transmission
Channels of The
Pandemic on Modern
Employment
 First, there will be a higher
number of jobseekers, including
people who lost their jobs,
school dropouts and new labor
market entrants. The longer
laid-off workers and new labor
market entrants remain
unemployed, the more likely
they become less employable in
the future because of lost skills.
 Second, the pandemic has
led to a re-allocation of
jobs across sectors. The
hardest-hit sectors are
those dependent on
personal contact, such as
accommodation and food
services. The sectors that
recover quickly and
present positive job growth
are communications and
technology and higher-
skilled services sectors.
 Third, companies are modifying their
business models to rely more on
technology, thereby reshaping their
workforces and the types of skills
demanded by employers. Digital
transformation and remote working
will transform jobs, facilities,
processes, and skills needs, including
skills required for higher value-added
services. These will further exacerbate
the skills mismatch in the labor
market.
 Nutritious eating habits contribute
to a stronger immune system
necessary for prevention and easier
recovery from illnesses. A job loss,
experienced by millions of
Filipinos during the Covid-19
pandemic, is expected to
negatively affect food security of
families. This research explores
the effect of a recent job loss
during the Covid-19 crisis on food
sufficiency.
 The findings suggest that a job loss in the
family is associated with greater food
insecurity, reduced likelihood that a family has
a sufficient amount of food, and deteriorated
child nutrition. There is also a differential
effect between currently employed and
unemployed job losers, with the latter group
being more adversely affected.