Hiring in the Philippines fell by more than 50% during the pandemic while the number of applicants competing increased five-fold amid pay cuts, reports the Manila Bulletin, citing data from online job portal Jobstreet Philippines. Philip Gioca, country manager of JobStreet.com Philippines, said pre-pandemic the site averaged 100,000 job offers daily but it has gone down to 44,000 job offers during the pandemic. In addition, most job offers were for work-from-home arrangements because offices are limited to 40% capacity. Gioca said the number of applicants also rose to 300 competing for the same job offer from only 50 applicants replying to the same job advertisement pre-Covid. Along with the scarcity of job openings was a pay cut of 30% to a maximum of 50% as employers have to determine how much they would need to continue operating for the next six months. Following the salary cuts, workers were also forced to augment their income by accepting part time and freelancing jobs, which were also prevalent among hirers during the pandemic, and earn on an hourly basis. Gioco added that the job landscape has already improved in the past three months. The average daily job offers have also gone up significantly signaling that lots of companies are expanding and opening up. “Hopefully, this will be sustained as we see hirers getting very positive in the next six months,” Gioco added.