Dole job fairs fill only 4,000 jobs

FILE PHOTO: A man looks at a poster showing the list of jobs for hire. INQUIRER/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Only around 4,000 jobs were filled out of the more than 120,000 vacancies offered during the Marcos administration’s first Labor Day job fair, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) reported on Wednesday. The agency reported that 30,837 job seekers participated in the two-day 43 Labor Day job fairs around the country, but only 4,728 job seekers (15 percent) were hired on the spot. The top vacancies filled were service crew, with 248 new workers hired; cashiers, 139; call center agents, 77; baggers, 57; and merchandisers, 57. Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma had said this year’s Labor Day job fair was different because “we have real existing vacancies.” He targeted that at least 40 percent of the job seekers would be hired on the spot. Dole had earlier announced 126,273 jobs would be offered by 1,286 employers during the job fairs on April 30 and May 1. —DONA PAZZIBUGAN