9,700 jobs up for grabs in Eastern Visayas on Labor Day

TACLOBAN CITY–About 9,700 local and overseas jobs are up for grabs during the May 1 Labor Day celebration in Eastern Visayas, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

Yahya Centi, labor regional director, said that about 44 agencies have signed up for the jobs fair to be conducted at the Tacloban Convention Center on Wednesday.

Of the participating agencies, 32 are for local employment while the remaining 12 are for overseas job opportunities.

Another jobs fair will also be held in Ormoc City to be participated by 19 business establishments.

The jobs fair, he said, will help address the region’s problem on unemployment, which is at 4.2 percent.

Based on previous past jobs fairs, Centi said about 15 to 30 percent applicants were hired on the spot.

Others who were not hired, he said, either did not have the skills or experiences or failed to bring the needed documents.

Meanwhile, the DOLE regional director said that workers in the region have to wait until July to find out if there will be an adjustment of the current wage order.

The current wage order, issued on June 25, 2018, pegged the daily minimum wage for agriculture workers at P275, while P305 for non-agriculture workers.

Centi said they have started to review the current wage order by having a consultation that they started in Ormoc City last April 10.

“We have already started the public consultation, which is necessary because we would like to look into the socio-economic indicators and the state of economy (of the region),” he said.

Among the indicators that they will consider during the public consultations are the increase of prices of commodities and inflation rate, among others.

Centi, however, could not say yet as to how much the increase will be because they have only started the public consultation. /jpv

RELATED STORY

200K local, overseas jobs up for grabs in Labor Day job fair