The Department of Labor and Employment expects that 800,000 local and overseas Filipino workers in the electronics and clothing sectors stand to lose jobs before the year ends. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque admitted that the number of unemployed Filipinos is expected to rise in the next five to six months because of the more than half a million college and high school graduates who will be joining the labor force. “While there are companies that are opening up in the economic zone, we cannot easily absorb the new graduates. It will take us five to six months to catch up,” Roque said. About nine million Filipinos or 10 percent of the total population are unemployed and underemployed, he announced last Friday. Samsung, Yazaki, F-Tech, Fujitsu, NEC and TDK, Matsushita are only some of the companies that filed their intention to fire their workers until March of this year. Intel Philippines will lay off 2,000 workers this year, he added. Fujitsu Computer Products Philippines, which manufactures hard disks, said it will dismiss 1,750 workers in coming months. The factory employed 5,000 as of December. The labor secretary said Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. has announced plans to axe 1,750 workers in its Laguna plant due to the global economic downturn. Roque also reported that a number of Japanese ship owners have reported to DOLE their intention to layoff Filipino seafarers due to a lack of demand for cargo vessels. He added that there are 45 foreign vessels that are laid up in Subic Bay and Davao. The vessels in Subic are on full crew but those in Davao have already been laid off.