DOLE boosts employment facilitation
TEN MONTHS into the administration, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the labor department has steadily boosted its campaign to address the problem of unemployment and underemployment in the country.
Bello said employment facilitation services to the public consisted of job fairs; labor market information (LMI) dissemination; the online job portal PhilJobNet; and the youth employment programs such as the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), the Government Internship Program (GIP), and the JobStart Philippines Program.
For the first ten months, the DOLE through the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), conducted 1,543 nationwide job fairs attended by 638,884 jobseekers. Among the qualified job fair applicants, 119,660 were hired-onthe-spot (HOTS) by the participating employers.
Aside from the conduct of job fairs, the PESOs also referred for placement 1,795,806 qualified jobseekers. Eightyfive percent or 1,531,358 of them were employed.
For the same period, a total of 2,479,582 individuals and 58,643 institutions were provided with updated labor market information through the information and education materials regularly published and released by the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE).
Bello said the importance of being equipped with the right labor market information guided jobseekers and students alike as they chose their career path or profession.
Also, the DOLE has made the applicants’ search for jobs and the employer’s search for workforce more convenient, through the PhilJobNet, the DOLE’s internet-based job and applicant matching system.
From July last year to March 2017, a total of 110,940 job vacancies were posted at the PhilJobNet which were solicited from 1,061 accredited/ validated establishments. A total of 18,036 jobseekers registered at the portal.
Through the BLE, DOLE also provided employment to Filipino youth through programs such as SPES, GIP, and JobStart.
A total of 67,386 poor but deserving students, out-of-school youth, and dependents of displaced workers were given the opportunity to continue their education through the SPES–an employment-bridging program aimed at providing beneficiaries with shortterm job opportunities during summer and/or Christmas vacation or any time of the year.
Meanwhile, 12,018 Filipino college graduates were provided with internship experience in the government through the GIP.
The GIP aims to enhance the employability of young and talented graduates by training them in government service. Most of the GIPs were assigned to the frontline and technical support services.
With the support from the Government of Canada and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), DOLE has also provided young Filipinos not in employment, education, or training (NEET) with fullcycle employment facilitation services through the JobStart program.
Covering the same period, a total of 1,702 youth beneficiaries enrolled in the 10-day life skills training (LST) under the JobStart program. Of this number, 1,493 successfully finished the LST.
There are those who found jobs during or after undergoing the life skills training, while others moved on to the technical skills training of up to three months and the company-based internships for up to six months.