DOLE: Job Fair Participants Fewer In 2015 But Hired Jobseekers Rose To 59%

Not so many job applicants visited the 1,661 job fairs throughout the country in 2015 compared to those who visited the job fairs in 2014, but the number of jobseekers who were hired-on-the-spot (H.O.T.S.) rose to 59.07 percent of the total job fair registrants, or 135,590 out of the 487,640 registered applicants.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said this yesterday after receiving the 2015 job fair accomplishment report consolidated by the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE).

“In 2014, a total of 798,433 job applicants registered in 2,025 job fairs, but the HOTS were only 31.9 percent. In 2015, the HOTS were up and we are very pleased about it,” said Baldoz.

Baldoz also said a total of 229,538 of the 487,640 registered applicants qualified for the job fair vacancies in 2015.

“The figure represents the number of applicants having the basic education and skills requirement and who meet the qualifications of the job vacancies posted by the employers,” she explained.

In 2015, the number of job vacancies posted in the 1,661 job fairs reached 4,239,392, which were solicited from 26,794 employers and recruitment agencies who have participated in the year-round job fairs.

An overwhelming number of these vacancies, 2,273,818, were for local employment, while the rest are for abroad.

“These only show that job fairs are really effective in bringing together employers and job applicants,” said Baldoz.

“As an employment facilitation strategy, job fairs provide decent employment for our kababayans through the support of other government agencies and stakeholders, specifically the PESOs, which act as job placement facilitating offices in the regions,” Baldoz added.

Among the regions, the Region IV-A recorded the most number of H.O.T.S. in the 2015 job fairs, with 54,395, followed by NCR, with 37,415; Region III, with 13,506; Region XII, with 10,107; Region VII, with 5,412; Region IX, with 3,338; Region X, with 3,202; Region XI, with 2,208; CAR, with 2,052; CARAGA, with 1,291; Region VIII, with 1,073; Region II, with 389; Region V, with 366; Region I, with 334; Region VI, with 328; and Region IV-B with 174.

Meanwhile, the DOLE regions and the number of job fairs they conducted in 2015 were as follows: NCR, 736; Region IV-A, 323; Region III, 162; Region XII, 103; Region VII, 75; Region VI, 52; Region XI, 48; Region IX, 46; CAR, 38; CARAGA, 37; Region X, 26; Region VIII, 9; Region IV-B, Region II, 2 each; and Region 5, Region 1, with 1 each.

“The top three regions that recorded the highest number of job fairs conducted are areas where commercial and industrial firms are mostly concentrated and where most highly-urbanized cities can be found,” Baldoz explained.

To facilitate an increase in the number of job fair participants every year, the Department through its offices encourages all participating employers to post their job vacancies with the PESOs’ assistance in giving job information to the various jobseekers and clients.

Jobs Fair is an employment facilitation strategy aimed to speed up meeting of companies looking for potential employees and jobseekers seeking for employment. It is open to all unemployed, skilled and unskilled workers, fresh college graduates, graduates of training institutions, displaced workers and employees seeking advancement.

Easily, the DOLE’s 2015 Labor Day and 2015 Independence Day job fairs stood as the job fair events which netted the most number of job applicants registered, most number of applicants who qualified, and most number of qualified applicants who were hired-on-the-spot, said Baldoz.

“A big chunk, 27.3 percent, of qualified applicants were H.O.T.S. in the 2015 Independence Day job fair, while H.O.T.S. in the 2015 Labor Day job fair reached 22.8 percent.

To improve job fair performance this year, Baldoz directed the Bureau of Local Employment to encourage all participating employers to register and post early their job vacancies in the PhilJobNet system, which has been enhanced to already capture relevant information about participating employers.

The enhanced PhilJObNet is also now able to classify specific clients, whether they are high school graduates, women, senior citizens, PWDs, displaced workers, or OFW returnees. (DOLE)