ILO and Philippines set up emergency employment programme
19 November 2013
UN agency the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the government of the typhoon-hit Philippines are setting up an emergency employment programme to “help survivors overcome the crisis by empowering them”.
Tue, 19 Nov 2013UN agency the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the government of the typhoon-hit Philippines are setting up an emergency employment programme to “help survivors overcome the crisis by empowering them”.
The ILO says 5m workers, roughly a quarter of the Philippines’ labour force, have been affected by the devastation caused by last week’s Typhoon Haiyan.
ILO Philippine office director Lawrence Jeff Johnson says the emergency employment plan has two goals: restoring roads, facilities and infrastructure, and providing “people who have lost their livelihoods an opportunity to earn an income and to gain access to social protection” in carrying out that former goal.
Nearly half of the affected workers were in what the ILO defines as vulnerable employment when the typhoon hit. The types of vulnerable work include subsistence farmers, fishermen and those in informal employment. Assisting those workers will be the number one priority of the ILO, Johnson says.
The 5m figure is up from initial estimates of 3m. On top of this, around 440,000 workers were affected by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in mid-October in Bohol, a region also affected by the typhoon.
The ILO’s work is part of a broader $301m (£187m) UN relief appeal.
The ILO says 5m workers, roughly a quarter of the Philippines’ labour force, have been affected by the devastation caused by last week’s Typhoon Haiyan.
ILO Philippine office director Lawrence Jeff Johnson says the emergency employment plan has two goals: restoring roads, facilities and infrastructure, and providing “people who have lost their livelihoods an opportunity to earn an income and to gain access to social protection” in carrying out that former goal.
Nearly half of the affected workers were in what the ILO defines as vulnerable employment when the typhoon hit. The types of vulnerable work include subsistence farmers, fishermen and those in informal employment. Assisting those workers will be the number one priority of the ILO, Johnson says.
The 5m figure is up from initial estimates of 3m. On top of this, around 440,000 workers were affected by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in mid-October in Bohol, a region also affected by the typhoon.
The ILO’s work is part of a broader $301m (£187m) UN relief appeal.
