DOLE moves to boost employment

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is embarking on new programs this year to boost local employment and curb the high jobless rate nationwide.

Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said DOLE in the first quarter of this year will disseminate its 2020 Vision Report to inform young students, parents and teachers on the current labor trends.

Baldoz said the report identifies 13 key employment generators or major industries with the greatest potential to generate employment as well as the emerging industries and in-demand occupations.

The report also contains 110 hard-to-fill occupations that companies nationwide are having difficulty filling up because job applicants are not qualified or there is no supply of job applicants.

“We hope to provide the report to 1.6 million people, including students, parents, teachers, career guidance counselors and career advocates and also 18,000 educations institutions and local government units,” she said.

Baldoz said DOLE hopes to deal with the prevailing job and skills mismatch in the country.

“By the first quarter of 2014, the system will be fully operational in all regions and will be available to jobseekers at no cost,” she said.

This year, DOLE is also enhancing PhilJobNet, the government online job matching portal, she added.

Baldoz said the enhanced system will serve as the repository of live skills and job vacancy postings by locality and will contain an online validation facility for licensed professionals.

DOLE will also intensify the career guidance advocacy plan launched last December, she added.

Baldoz said advocacy plan is expected to provide appropriate and timely information on the realities of the labor market to help young students in their career decisions.

Starting 2014, DOLE will implement the career guidance advocacy plan’s various components such as deployment of regional career information caravans and roving career ambassadors, she added. –Mayen Jaymalin, The Philippine Star