ANGARA: PESO BILL TO HELP PROVIDE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES TO 650,000 NEW GRADS

With more than half a million new graduates this year, Senator Sonny Angara is hopeful that the recently approved bill, which seeks to expand and strengthen the government's Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), would help new graduates, especially in the rural areas, to immediately secure a job.

"Based on the Commission on Higher Education data, there are approximately 656,000 students who graduated this year and are now looking for jobs. According to studies, it can take 18 months to two years before new college graduates can land a job," said Angara, sponsor and co-author of Senate Bill 1386 which seeks to amend the Public Employment Service Act of 1999.

Given this persistent issue of unemployment in the country, Angara stressed the need for stronger PESO policies to address the failure to adequately disseminate labor market information, such as job vacancies, to people living in the province.

To date, there are PESOs in 75 provinces, 142 cities and 1,374 municipalities, which may be collectively credited for up to 4.45 million job placements between 2010 and 2013.

The lawmaker noted that in many instances, successful PESOs function as one-stop shops for employees and serve as a conduit to government offices for essential services such as processing of passports and helping repatriated overseas Filipino workers.

SB 1386 seeks to create PESOs in all provinces, municipalities, cities and other strategic areas throughout the country, and to ensure their continued operation and sustainability through the support of the local government units and the Department of Labor and Employment.

"Just recently, the government has posted online over 3,000 job vacancies in five agencies in an effort to attract young graduates to careers in public service. With the amended PESO law, we can ensure that every new graduate with the right qualifications, even those who graduated from schools in the countryside, will be given an opportunity to apply for these jobs," the senator said.

Angara, acting chairman of the Senate labor committee, commended his colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives for passing on third and final reading both versions of the said measure, which will now be sent to the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the differences of the two versions.

"I am hopeful that this will be enacted soon to minimize unemployment and underemployment in the country. We need to create more and better jobs not only for the 10 million Filipinos who are either unemployed or underemployed, but more so for the thousands of young Filipinos who enter our labor force every year," he said.