To lick youth unemployment, DOLE works closely with ILO, other UN bodies, and social partners

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is working very closely and actively with the International Labor Organization (ILO), other United Nations organizations, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and its multipartite partners in the Philippines to reduce youth unemployment in the next six years.

“We are aware that approximately 20 percent of the country’s population fall between 15 to 24 years old and that almost half, or 49 percent, of this age group are unemployed. We are, therefore, earnest in licking this problem,” Baldoz said yesterday at the start of the Mindanao island-wind consultation for the forthcoming National Summit on Labor and Employment.

The activity, being held in Davao City, is the second leg of the nationwide consultation being conducted by the DOLE to solicit inputs from its social partners and stakeholders towards the formulation, validation, and presentation of the 2011-2016 Labor and Employment Agenda as an input to the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 2011 to 2016.

The DOLE devoted the first day of the consultation to the youth to hear the youth perspective on the issues, and gather their inputs and recommendations to the Labor and Employment Agenda. The consultation was also an occasion for a comprehensive discussuin of “Alternatives to Migration: Decent Jobs for the Filipino Youth”, the United Nations’ joint programme of its country teams, the ILO, IOM, UNICEF, and the UNFPA, with the DOLE and the National Youth Commission.

The other joint programme partners are the Departments of Education, Trade and Industry, Philippine Commission on Women, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and select local government units in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Over a period of three years, the joint programme aims to achieve improved policy coherence and implementation on youth employment and migration through full stakeholder participation; and increased access to decent work for poor, young women and men.

Lawrence Jeff Johnson, ILO country director for the Philippines, presented to the youth consultation the ILO’s directions on youth employment.

His presentation, “From Poverty to Decent Work: Bridging the Gap through the Millennium Development Goals and the Global Jobs” clarified unemployment and employment concepts, explained the current employment situation and trends in the youth sector, and discussed the ILO’s support to the Philippines in employment targeting and monitoring, in assessing wage mechanisms, in labor code review and improving compliance to international labour standards, and in engaging UN system support in fostering productive decent employment.

“We have to talk and work together and address the problems. (But) you need to understand the concepts to be able to participate in formulating the solutions to youth unemployment and other issues facing the youth,” Johnson said, adding:

“The youth should take personal responsibility to have the skills, education, and training that the future demands. They should not mortgage their future.”

The DOLE has formulated a work plan on youth employment and migration work plan which contains activities that the Department will pursue in line with its commitment to the joint programme and to the millennium development goals.

“The extent of youth unemployment and vulnerable employment in the country is serious. We need to provide our young people with decent and productive employment opportunities not only to take advantage of their huge productive capacity, but also to provide them alternatives to migration. For the vulnerable workers, we ought to provide them adequate social protection,” Baldoz observed. -Source: Labor Communications Office