Press Release
October 7, 2009

Job seekers thank Loren for organizing jobs fair

Senator Loren Legarda personally opened yesterday a mega jobs fair her office organized at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City, citing the urgent need to reduce the number of employable but jobless Filipinos now totaling 2.9 million.

"Joblessness equals hopelessness among our people. But I believe that there are no lack of jobs that can be had by our presently unemployed countrymen here and abroad, and that it's just a matter of matching people and their skills to the corresponding job needs of industries," said Loren.

The senator made the remark in answering a question why her office had organized the jobs fair, dubbed Local and Overseas Registration for Employment Now (LOREN), in partnership with the Department of Labor, the Pasay City government and the PESO Association of Metro Manila.

About 100 foreign and local employers entertained numerous job applicants for manpower pooling in the more or less 14,000 job vacancies intended to be filled out. Many of the job applicants thanked Loren for her initiative to help them join the labor force.

"With jobs come food on the table for many poor Filipinos. I am very willing to coordinate or organize similar jobs fair in the future if only to make a dent on our very big unemployment problem," said Loren.

She cited the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted last April, which estimated the number of jobless Filipinos at 2.9 million or 7.6 percent of the Philippine labor force of 57 million employable Filipinos.

Loren explained that while foremost among the causes of unemployment in the Philippines is the weak economy, barriers to entry into the labor market of many Filipinos include the lack of appropriate qualifications and timely information on available supply and demand for workers.

She pointed out that jobs fairs bring together under one roof both the jobseekers and employers, thereby making it more easy to match labor skills with labor needs of companies.

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