Firms hiring again a good sign—DOLE chief

CEBU CITY – Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said unemployment in the country was slowly starting to ease as companies have started to hire workers.

In an interview over a local radio station on Friday, Roque said the trend was being felt nationwide.

“There is an indication even in our export zones [that] the companies are starting to hire. It’s still slow. It’s still gradual but they [companies] are starting to recover,” he said.

Regional officials of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said some companies in Cebu have started hiring new workers and rehiring those who have been retrenched.

Roque said the government’s current focus was on job generation so more job fairs were to be expected. These, he said, made it easier for workers to find jobs.

In the May 1 job fair called Jobpalooza 2009, at least 3,000 workers were hired on the spot nationwide, Roque said.

He said the DOLE would initiate another job fair on June 12 to June 14.

At least 9,000 prospective workers in Western Visayas lined up at job fairs held in Bacolod and Iloilo cities, according to Aida Estabillo, DOLE Western Visayas regional director.

Of the 9,000 applicants, Estabillo said 8,210 were referred for interviews, 18 were hired on the spot for overseas work and six others were accepted for local jobs.

The government has rejected calls from militant labor unions for wage increases, saying increasing salaries was a wrong move at this time.

Instead, government officials said more jobs should be generated to ease unemployment.

The Philippine export industry was one of the sectors hardest hit by the global financial crisis as the demand for Philippine products dropped.–Jhunnex Napallacan, Carla Gomez, Philippine Daily Inquirer