Job seekers were seen queueing in the registration area of the Kalayaan Job Fair in Cebu City held inside SM Seaside City Cebu on June 12, 2024. CDN Digital photo/Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Kalayaan job fair of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has created opportunities for job seekers in the region.
In Central Visayas, a total of 241 job seekers were hired on the spot in Cebu City, Cebu; Trinidad, Bohol; and Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
According to DOLE-7, in Cebu City, 135 job seekers were hired on the spot among the 409 registered applicants, 81 in Trinidad out of 243 applicants, and 25 in Dumaguete City out of 131 registered applicants.
The job fair, which was held in celebration of the Philippine Independence Day, was done simultaneously across all the regions in the country.
In an interview with the reporters on June 12, DOLE-7 Director Lilia Estillore said that in Cebu City, there were a total of 3,402 job vacancies offered from 36 participating employers.
However, she couldn’t provide data from Bohol and Negros Oriental as of press time.
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She said that most job vacancies were in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, along with openings in hotels, hardware stores, and retail shops.
Estillore also had a message for persons with disabilities (PWDs) interested in applying for jobs, noting that this wasn’t the first time DOLE conducted job fairs.
“Of course, there’s no discrimination [in] PWDs,” Estillore said.
Meanwhile, Estillore said that senior citizens who want to work after retirement can do so on a temporary basis.
Recently, some fast food chains have started hiring senior citizens as staff.
Section 5 of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 states that “senior citizens who have the capacity and desire to work, or be re-employed, shall be provided information and matching services to enable them to be productive members of society.”
In her message on Wednesday, Estillore told the job seekers to reflect on how they can contribute to the companies where they plan to work.
Based on the recent data published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s employment rate in April 2024 was 96 percent, 0.5 percent higher than the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in April 2024 was 4 percent, down from 4.5 percent in both April 2023 and January 2024. /clorenciana