75% of job seekers found work through Labor Day fairs

Job seekers at the Labor Day Job Fair at the Manila City Hall. INQUIRER / Marianne Bermudez

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 75 percent of the job seekers who came to the various Labor Day job fairs hosted nationwide by the Department of Labor and Employment were able to find work.

Data from the Bureau of Local Employment showed that of the 35,242 applicants who came to DOLE’s 31 job sites, 4,314 job seekers were immediately hired while 21,593 were considered near-hires — or those who would still need to submit additional requirements or undergo another test.

The top occupations among those immediately hired were production workers, service crew, assemblers, production operators and cashiers.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III expressed gratitude to the employers who participated in the daylong event during which 204,000 local and overseas jobs were made available to the public.

Bello noted that apart from those who landed jobs, 1,543 applicants were also referred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to undergo skills training.

Another 1,600 were also provided livelihood assistance by DOLE, while more than 2,000 applicants will be assisted by the Department of Trade and Industry in starting up their own business.

/atm