Central Visayas sustains high employment rate

CEBU CITY – Central Visayas posted a high employment rate of 94.8 percent as of January, slightly better than the 94.2 percent in January 2018, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in the region reported.

The growth was spurred by the construction, Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) and tourism sectors, DOLE noted.

DOLE Regional Director Salome Siaton told Manila Bulletin the unemployment rate in January was at 5.2 percent compared to 5.8 percent in January 2018.

The underemployment rate also down from 24.4 percent to 18.4 percent.

“By looking at those data there is greater improvement in the quality of jobs in Central Visayas, although there is still presence of job mismatch among the labor force here,” Siaton said.

DOLE did a project study called Jobs Fit 2020 which monitored jobs and employment of graduates based on their course, skills to that of their actual jobs.

The department consulted the industries as to specific skills they require, Siaton said.

“We want to share the results of the Jobs Fit 2020 project of available jobs that are hard-to-fill to the academe to address job skills mismatch in the labor industry,” she said.

Based on the 2017 results of the study, industries such as construction, BPOs, tourism have jobs that are difficult to fill because the economic growth in these sectors are greater, Siaton said.

The results are sent to guidance counselors of universities and colleges to help them match potential jobseekers with the occupation that best suits them.

“We need to look into and recognize the interests of these children kasi jobs skills mismatch nga ang labas,” Siaton noted.

DOLE believes schools are not producing the graduates with the skills companies are looking for, she said. (With reports from Brandon Ormega and Marlauie Estrella, USC Interns)