LEGARDA HOSTS JOB FAIR, URGES RP TO MAXIMIZE WORKFORCE

Senator Loren B. Legarda today led the opening of a job fair which provides a venue for about 100 employers and 6,000 job-seekers to meet and fill-up vacancies with qualified applicants, reducing unemployment incidence among the country's workforce.

Tagged Local and Overseas Registration for Employment Now, the job fair also seeks to determine the extent of mismatch in labor supply and demand in Manila and the global labor market through training and educational re-direction. LOREN Job Fair is held at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

"This job fair is aimed to maximize the underutilized labor force we have in the country for both domestic and overseas employment. If we do not provide opportunities and facilitate the job search, we will lose our chances for overseas work to other Asian migrant workers and our domestic labor force will suffer incompatibility and exhaustion of skills against current demands," warned Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography.

Of 92 million Filipinos, 57 M (64%) forms the country's labor force but 2.9 M (7.6%) of them are jobless. Half of this is comprised by the young , aged 24 and below. Majority of these young people have taken the route to Manila, competing for high paying jobs in the service and industry sectors.

"Foremost among the causes of unemployment is the inability of the economy to create enough jobs, the barriers to entry in the labor market such as lack of appropriate qualifications, and the information gap on available supply and demand for workers," explained Legarda. "We want to help solve that through this job fair initiative."

Legarda is optimistic that the Philippine labor landscape is not as badly affected by the crisis as it has industrialized economies. Spain has a record-high of 17.4% unemployment, the United States has 9.5%, Germany 8.6%. This only illustrates how vulnerable market economies are, even the biggest not spared of the crisis. Legarda warned that while the Philippines has a relatively lower [unemployment rate] compared to these countries, the country's leaders and policymakers can not be complacent.

"Providing jobs for our people is, first of all, our moral, civil and political obligation. It is the best way to save Filipino families from poverty, and at the same time continuously pump badly-needed foreign remittance into our domestic economy," said Legarda.

The Job Fair is composed of 100 local and overseas employers and agencies, a showcase of the DOLE's various livelihood and self-employment programs, pre-employment document services, career talks, and technology and skills demonstrations.

The job fair is conducted in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment, the City government of Pasay, the PESO Association of Metro Manila.