SAN FERNANDO CITY — The Region-1 office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-1) has facilitated the employment of 33,599 workers in the Ilocos region through its programs, in partnership with the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), for Calendar Year 2012.
DOLE-1 Director Grace Ursua disclosed that the data showed their regional office exceeded its 22,688 target by 48 percent.
“Data from the various DOLE field offices reveal that these employed persons are from Western Pangasinan (4,400), Central Pangasinan (7,798), Eastern Pangasinan (7,143), Ilocos Norte (3,765), Ilocos Sur (5,587), and La Union (4,906),” she said.
Ursua said this was brought about by strong linkages between the DOLE and its social partners like the PESO in local government units, employers, academic institutions, people’s/workers organizations, and other government agencies, especially in the implementation of the agency’s job search assistance services.
“Our labor market information (LMI), which is a signaling activity, has made progress with our stakeholders actively taking their respective roles in the program,” Ursua said.
Last year, the LMI was able to reach 106,317 individuals like students, parents, and jobseekers, and 1,773 institutions like schools and organizations, making information about the most in-demand jobs, hard-to-fill-occupations, available skills, high-paying jobs, among others, available through the exchange institutions which include the already mentioned social players.
“Simply put, through the LMI, our jobseekers are informed about the available vacancies in companies, and in turn, companies or employers get to know the available skills from a particular locality, thereby, facilitating job-skill matching,” Ursua explained.
Also last year, the PESOs and other stakeholders initiated 51 job fairs, which resulted to 2,087 jobseekers getting hired-on-the-spot by local companies.

Source: Manila Bulletin - January 9, 2013