Manila  - More than 100,000 workers in the Philippines have been laid off or have suffered wage cuts due to the global economic crisis, a senior labour official said Monday.

Labour Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said 109,529 employees of companies in the Philippines have been affected by the crisis since October last year.

Baldoz said 11,574 workers were permanently laid off, while 38,806 were temporarily laid off and 59,149 have been forced to accept wage cuts after being placed on flexible work arrangements.

"In the next five months, workers' displacements will continue but we expect it to be at a slower pace and only in the export and manufacturing sector," she said.

Baldoz added that a total of 12,000 overseas workers have also been retrenched since October, most of them coming from Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

The country's unemployment rate rose to 7.7 per cent in January, from 7.4 per cent recorded in the same month last year.

The number of jobless people increased to 2.85 million in January from 2.67 million a year ago, according to the National Statistics Office. (dpa)