ILOILO CITY –Unemployment is still a problem in Western Visayas, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here.
Johnson Cañete, Regional Director of DOLE-6, said the unemployment rate in the region as of October 2017 is 5.6 percent, higher than the 3.2 percent rate in 2016.
There are about 183,000 unemployed individuals in the region last year, higher than the 108,000 unemployed recorded in 2016.
Cañete said that the region is producing graduates every year, so it is expected that the employment rate will increase. He stressed, however, that the government is relentless in providing programs that will address the problem in unemployment here.
Some programs include the Government Internship Program (GIP), JobStart program and Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES), among others.
Based on the data of DOLE-6, there are 10,314 students and out-of-school youths with bridging employment from a minimum of 20 days to a maximum of 78 days benefited from SPES program. The department has paid PHP35.8 million for the beneficiaries.
They also assisted some 1,852 students and out-of-school youths with bridging employment from a minimum of three months to maximum of six months and paid the total amount of PHP32.7 million.
Iloilo province and San Carlos City in Negros Occidental are the two areas in the region that JobStart program is being implemented.
JobStart Philippines is a youth employment facilitation program of DOLE in partnership with the Asian Development Bank and Government of Canada which mainly aims to enhance the employability of at-risk youth to improve their integration into productive employment.
Cañete said that there are only 70 of the 210 beneficiaries in the province now looking for work while others are already employed.
Cañete added that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is continuously providing skills training to equip more individuals in the labor force with the skills that are in demand among companies.
Cañete noted that the skills training being provided by TESDA also help address the problem on job mismatch.
“In the past, we forgot that it is not only those graduating four- or five-year course that is important but to give our graduates the skills that they need in order to match what is really being needed not only locally but overseas,” he said.
Cañete hoped that unemployment will be addressed in the region as they strengthen their programs this year. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
