375,000 workers get new jobs

MANILA, Philippines – Around 375,000 workers displaced during the global financial crisis as well as new jobseekers got new jobs and alternative sources of livelihood in the first half of the year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the government, through the Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP), invested P13 billion in public works and enterprise development to generate jobs.

“By providing emergency employment and funds for livelihood projects, CLEEP had helped its beneficiaries, mostly low-income workers including those in industries affected by the global crisis as well as displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and out-of-school youths, cope with the crisis’ adverse effects,” Roque said.

Meanwhile, local recruiters welcomed the decision of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to close down 177 non-performing nursing schools, saying the move would reduce the growing number of unemployed nurses in the country.

The recruitment sector had been seeking the evaluation of over 1,000 nursing schools, which they claimed contributed to the surging number of graduates who could not find jobs. –Mayen Jamaylin (The Philippine Star)