‘More job fairs to address rise in unemployment rate’

The Labor department will conduct more job fairs to address the expected rise in the unemployment rate in Central  Visayas in the first quarter because of the thousands of new graduates this month.

The labor department would coordinate with the local government units to hold a series of job fairs, said Regional Director Gloria Tango of Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (Dole 7).

Based on the Labor Force Survey in January, the unemployment rate of the region was at 7.6 percent.

Tango, who took over the post last month, said that would be equivalent to around 70,000 to 80,000 unemployed persons.

Tango said the unemployment rate in the region could be high because of several people from other provinces including from areas in Mindanao, who come to Cebu to try their luck here.

She said jobseekers from far areas went here because of several job opportunities.

“Ang region 7 man gud, especially Cebu is a growth area, so expected nga daghang jobseekers gikan sa ubang probinsya nga moanhi dinhi, hoping nga dinhi sila makakita og trabaho”, Tango said.

In the next Labor Force Survey to be conducted by the National Statistics Office by April, Tango said, the unemployment rate might rise because of the new graduates, who would be joining with other unemployed persons in seeking jobs.

“Kung tan-awon nato ang trend sa previous years, naa gyuy possibility nga and April Labor Force Survey motaas tungod kay mao man nang panahon nga daghang mo-graduate, so maapil na na sila sa Labor force”, Tango said.

On Sunday, two job fairs will be held simultaneously at the Abellana National School sponsored by the Cebu City government and at the Cebu International Convention Center sponsored by the Cebu Provincial government.

Tango said several companies for local and overseas employment would join these job fairs.