Initiative to create 100,000 jobs signed

LEADERS UNITE (From left): Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry chair George Barcelon, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, Jobstreet Philippines managing director Dannah Majarocon, SM Foundation executive director Deborah Sy, Investment and Economic Affairs czar Frederick Go, Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) Jobs Committee member Doris Magsaysay-Ho, PSAC lead for J.O.B.S. Teresita Sy-Coson, PSAC Jobs Committee member Rizalina Mantaring, Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) vice president Ferdinand Ferrer and Ecop president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Hundreds of thousands of jobs will be made available to Filipinos under the jobs promotion initiative signed on Thursday by the Private Sector Advisory Council, online jobs platform Jobstreet, SM Foundation Inc. and several business groups.

Employers Confederation of the Philippines president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., whose group is one of the signatories, says this is the scale of the employment opportunities under the “Trabaho Para sa Bayan: J.O.B.S (Job Opportunities Building Skills).

“I hope this initiative will help make people see what are the available companies looking for jobs, what skills are needed,” Ortiz-Luis tells the Inquirer.

Other business groups that signed up include the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc.

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For JobStreet Philippines managing director Dannah Majarocon, the multipartnership initiative is important in enhancing the local labor market.

To generate quality jobs for Filipinos

“The primary objective of this campaign is to generate quality jobs for Filipinos and address the job-skills mismatch. This is very important to support nation-building in upskilling and job matching,” she says.

She says the goals under the initiative will be achieved through the multiple job fairs this year that will be held at different SM malls.

According to Jobstreet, there are currently over a hundred thousand job postings in its online platform, spanning multiple industries including information technology-business process management, health care, manufacturing, and construction.

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Meanwhile, SM Foundation executive director Deborah Sy says the partnership will also provide a digital platform for job seekers to find opportunities.

The industry groups that signed up also committed to make use of the online platform to publicly post their vacancies.

“With today’s gathering of giants of industries, big associations and government leaders, we hope to contribute to providing employment opportunities to more of our fellow Filipinos,” Sy says.