DOLE urges Pinoys to create jobs through entrepreneurship

CEBU, Philippines - To promote employment in the country, the Department of Labor and Employment urges more Filipinos to build more businesses and create more jobs.

DOLE–7 Regional Director Gloria Tango said that work opportunities offered during job fairs could not suffice the unemployment rate of the country, following the law of supply and demand.

Based on the labor force survey, she further said that the unemployment rate as of January 2012 reached to 7.2% nationwide while Region 7 presented 7.5% which is higher than the national rate.

She added that 50% of the unemployment rate belongs to ages 15-24 years old, considered to be youth unemployment, in which inexperience, less education, job and skill mismatch are one of the contributing factors.

With such findings, Tango then concluded that what the country needs nowadays is entrepreneurship that could result to the creation of more job opportunities to those unemployed.

She also encouraged parents to motivate their children to be businessmen for them to greatly contribute to the society, rather than just being employees.

“Normally, sinasabi natin sa mga anak natin na mag-aral nang mabuti para pagkatapos nila sa pag-aaral ay makahanap ng matinong trabaho. Bakit hindi natin baguhin at sabihing magtapos sila ng pag-aaral upang makapagtayo ng negosyo,” (Normally, we always advise our children to study hard so that after finishing their studies, they will land a stable job. Why don’t we change it and inspire them to venture into business after they graduate) she stated.

She added that the industry and the academe should work hand in hand to avoid job and skills mismatch since it was found out that the skills of majority of the products of universities do not match the demand of the industry, resulting to underemployment and unemployment.

Tango also clarified that the thin line between the government and the entrepreneurial sector when it comes to the employment of the Filipinos.

“It is the business sector who creates jobs, not the government. Our role here is to facilitate in the hiring process like during job fairs for the companies to get qualified workers,” she said in an exclusive interview. (FREEMAN)