Some 88,464 contracts have been reactivated to date, of the more than 240,000 that were suspended, after the declaration of a national emergency due to the covid-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020.

That is, until this Monday, November 9, only 38% of the total suspended contracts have been reactivated, less than what had been expected with the reopening of economic activities, revealed the Minister of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), Doris Zapata. 

The senior official specified that at the beginning of the economic opening, they had a monthly movement of 25% in the reactivation of contracts; that is, they had a behavior based on the reopening and by the end of the year around 180,000 reactivated contracts were expected, but this has diminished.

She explained that the behavior of 25% of the contracts reactivated in a month indicated that at the end of the year they could have at least 150 thousand contracts reactivated and they had around 90 thousand contracts that were under review of how this behavior was going to occur in opening and reativation.

However, I must say that the percentage of contract reactivation has dropped. We are already in the middle of November and (still) we have 88 thousand suspended contracts, said Zapata, the statements to National Television.

The reality, Zapata pointed out, is that there are many companies that have reopened their activities and have not established or announced the reactivation of labor contracts in the Ministry of Labor.

There are some cases of companies that have reopened their economic activities, but they do not reactivate the contracts and are hiring by professional contracts, it is part of the complaints that we have received; and we have told them that this is not the correct procedure, said the head of Mitradel.

However, the situation for the labor sector and employment could be complicated if the number of cases due to covid-19 continue to increase; and thus aggravate the unemployment rate of 25% that Mitradel had planned, at the end of 2020.

The curfew and the measures taken in some provinces where the presence of covid-19 has skyrocketed, could further impact the reactivation of labor contracts, Zapata warned.

Faced with the situation with the companies, the head of Mitradel said that they have been conducting inspections in each of the companies to make corrections and, in that sense, called on them to "respect" the labor rights of workers, to In this respect, each of the companies that are currently being affected can receive their benefits.

In that sense, she recalled that on January 1, Law 157 ceases to govern and as the National Government, the concern and the line where they will work is precisely in being able to benefit the affected companies, which are mostly medium and small companies, but it is going to work in function of the protection of the employment and the labor rights of the workers.

That is the general guideline that we as the National Government are trying to put on the table and explain to each of the country's organizations," said the Minister of Labor, who trusts that the percentage of reactivation of contracts will resume from here at December 31st.

Of the 88,464 contracts reactivated until this Monday, November 9, 38% of the workers who returned to their jobs are women and 62%, basically from the provinces of Panama, Colón, Chiriquí, Panama Oeste and San Miguelito, which is where the largest amount of economic activities directed to retail and wholesale trade is concentrated.