Unemployment rate seen to increase in urban areas

 CEBU, Philippines - While the unemployment rate in the country increased to 7.5 percent in April 2013 from the 6.9 percent recorded in the same period of last year, higher unemployment percentage is already expected in highly-urbanized areas like in Cebu City as more people from the countryside migrate to cities with greater employment opportunities.

This is according to Fidel Magno, head of the Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP) of the Cebu City Government.

“The more progression, the more economic activities in the area, the higher the unemployment rate,” he said in an interview.

Magno cited that the high unemployment rate could also be attributed to the growing labor force who is mostly composed of fresh graduates and the lesser jobs produced in the labor market.

He shared that skills mismatch has been the usual scenario during job fairs wherein applicants do not qualify for the positions sought by participating employers.

He then advised the young generation to assess the demand of the industry so as not to end up being in the unemployed sector after graduation.

He further suggested vocational courses that could actually enable graduates to be hired due to their skills and competencies.

Magno lauded employers who are willing to cooperate and actively participate in job fairs conducted by the government.

As a strategy to help decrease the unemployment rate in Cebu City, the city government conducts weekly barangay job fairs and mega job fairs every year.

DMDP is responsible of facilitating employment and employability enhancement through skills training.

One of the mega job fairs lined up for the year is the Cebu City Local Job Fair which will be held on June 22 at the Cebu City Sports Complex.

This is one of the highlight activities of the month long celebration of the Cebu Business Month 2013 by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

According to Magno, the local job fair will provide an estimate of  2000 employment opportunities from not less than 50 participating companies who are mostly from the retail, business process outsourcing, construction, and hotel industries.

He added that this job fair, which is considered to be the 63rd mega job fair of DMDP since 1993, is one of the four mega job fairs prepared by the Cebu City Government for 2013. The first mega job fair happened last March while the next two job fairs will be held on September and November.

CCCI president Lito Maderazo stressed the need for inclusive growth and job generation in the country.

He said that the Philippines needs to attract more foreign direct investments especially in the manufacturing sector, encourage entrepreneurship and start-up businesses and improve the agricultural sector which is seen as the biggest driver of employment generation among Filipinos particularly in the countryside.

In the latest results of the April 2013 Labor Force Survey (LFS), the National Statistics Office reported that the number of agricultural workers decreased from an estimated 12.47 million in April 2012 to 11.84 million in April 2013.

It was also due to the decline in employment in the agriculture sector that the employment rate fell from 93.1 percent in April 2013 to 92.5 percent in the same period of last year. /JOB (FREEMAN)