1-M jobs still available — DoLE

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Wednesday that over one million jobs are still available in government job fairs nationwide.

Earlier, about 800,000 jobseekers were hired after they applied for job vacancies offered at the government job fairs organized by the Public Employment Service Offices (PESO).

Citing an initial report from the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said about 500,000 of these applicants were hired by the private sector, while the remaining 300,000 were hired for government service.

BLE Director Criselda Sy said the PESO, in cooperation with private firms, earlier held 1,179 job fairs nationwide.

“All in all, the PESOs solicited 2,050,411 job vacancies that were made available to 1,299,270 job seekers,” Sy said.

Job fairs held in the National Capital Region (NCR) had the highest number of participants with 151,000 applicants; followed by Region 4-A – 112,000 applicants; Region 7 – 54,100; Region 3 – 37,000; and Region 11 – 30,000.

These job fairs are in line with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s directive to DoLE to intensify its job facilitation program.

“The importance of the PESOs is particularly highlighted by the agenda of President Aquino to address the labor-mismatch problem by promoting better coordination between employers, academia, and the government,” Baldoz said.

Meanwhile, Baldoz also released the third quarter report for DoLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP), where about 60,000 disadvantaged workers received a total of P222 million worth of tools and training to start their own businesses.

“Hundreds more will benefit as the DoLE continues to look for ways to help our disadvantaged workers. We are providing them opportunities to the route of livelihood rather than wage employment to secure their better lives for themselves and their families,” Baldoz said. –SAMUEL MEDENILLA, Manila Bulletin