Internship program open to 340 unemployed youth in Taguig
MANILA, Philippines—Unemployed youth in Taguig now have more chances to land jobs, with a free tailor-fit internship program oriented toward those with less than a year’s job experience.
The labor department’s “JobStart Philippines” program, implemented only in four cities nationwide, kicked off in Taguig on Tuesday, as the local Public Employment Services Office (PESO) opened the program for registration at the city hall auditorium.
The registration for about a thousand applicants will run until July 2, with the local PESO only able to process up to 150 applicants a day.
The program targets unemployed, out-of-school 18 to 24-year-olds, at least high school graduates, with less than a year’s work experience.
The program was conceptualized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), in partnership with the Asian Development Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency, in order to address the high rates of unemployed youth and those lacking in education or training in the Philippines, said JobStart Taguig facilitator Maida Aguinaldo, in an interview.
In Taguig, only 680 JobStart applicants will be randomly picked for eight days of job-readiness assessment; life skills training such as communication, financial management, and work ethics; career guidance; and labor market information counseling.
After the PESO matches them with local companies or employers taking part in the JobStart program, only half or 340 of the beneficiaries will undergo a three-month training tailor-fit to the skills required by their employers, according to Aguinaldo.
Aguinaldo said that employers who have joined the JobStart Taguig mostly dealt in the food and recreational industry, merchandising and manufacturing. Companies who advertise with PESO in Taguig are mostly looking for blue-collar workers, largely for sales, she said.
During the JobStart trainings, PESO would provide a daily P300 allowance per beneficiary, Aguinaldo said.
The internship with the employers will run up to six months, during which the beneficiaries will get not only work experience but also a “salary” of 75 percent of the city’s daily minimum wage. The daily minimum wage in Taguig is P466.
At the end of the internship, the companies or employers would decide whether to “absorb” the JobStart interns as probationary or regular workers, Aguinaldo said.
The JobStart program will be piloted in only three other areas: Quezon city, San Fernando in Pampanga province, and General Trias in Cavite province—the local governments with the strongest PESOs, Aguinaldo said.
“There are studies showing that college graduates will need up to two years to find jobs. For someone who hasn’t graduated from college, it will take three to four years. This program is meant to facilitate the employability of the youth,” especially those Aguinaldo said.
In a press statement in June, the DOLE said youth unemployment has accounted for nearly half, or 49.8 percent, of the country’s total unemployed of 2.924 million. The agency expressed hopes JobStart could help raise youth job placement rate from 60-65 percent to 80 percent.
Should the JobStart program prove successful, “It is hoped that it will become a regular service of PESO,” Aguinaldo said.
“The city government will always support programs that will uplift the welfare of our young Taguigeños. With the trainings and coaching that Jobstart Philippines will give them, I am sure that they will land good jobs,” Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano said, in a statement.
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