20,000 jobs open to Pinoys here and abroad — DOLE

At least 20,000 jobs are available to Filipinos here and abroad this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said between 20,000 and 30,000 job vacancies are posted in the DOLE’s Phil-Jobnet system.

"Without leaving the house, job applicants can look for new jobs by just using the internet," she said.

Sto. Tomas said last year, the DOLE will be able to facilitate the employment of many job applicants nationwide through the Phil-Jobnet system.

"At any given time, the system displays about 20,000 to 30,000 vacancies. An average 18,376 people access the system daily," she said. Phil-Jobnet is an online skills and matching system functioning as the country’s basic labor market information (LMI) system.

It allows employers to post their vacancies and provides jobseekers easy access to these vacancies for free.

Aside from Phil-jobnet, the DOLE also operates the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) in key towns and provinces nationwide.

The PESOs’ solicit vacancies and provide referral services to job applicants through jobs fairs that bring together employers and workers in one place to speed up the matching of jobs and skills and the placement of workers.

From January to October this year, the PESOs had solicited a total of 789,779 vacancies.

About 566,561 applicants were referred to these vacancies, out of which, 410,132 were placed.

Sto. Tomas has expressed confidence that the DOLE would be able to generate more jobs this year and enable the government to further full down the country’s unemployment rate. — Mayen Jaymalin