60,000 hired thru PESO in 2011

CEBU, Philippines - Central Visayas ranked eighth nationwide in terms of high job placements as close to 60,000 applicants were employed through the Public Employment Service Offices (PESO) from January to December last year, according to the report of the Bureau of Local Employment which was based on PESO’s accomplishment report.

DOLE-7 Regional Director Exequiel Sarcauga yesterday said that PESO was instrumental in placing 57,548 jobseekers in all types of jobs, most of them in wage employment, from January to December 2011.

The highest placements had been registered in Region IV-A, with 191,856 followed by Region VI with 173,782; Region III with 129,949; the NCR with 122,300; Region 12 with 72,246; CARAGA with 68,241 and Region 11 with 59,606.

Sarcauga said that one of DOLE’s thrusts for 2012 is to further strengthen the country’s network of Public Employment Service Offices as a frontline institution in job facilitation and delivery of accurate, relevant, and useful labor market information for the network to place 1.2 million jobseekers in 2012, noting that the PESOs were instrumental in placing 1,108,908 jobseekers in all types of jobs, most of them in wage employment, in the country from January to December 2011.

“I personally thank and credit our PESO manager particularly in the local government units of Lilo-an, Mandaue, Cebu City, Talisay and the Cebu Province for their aggressive conduct of job fairs,” Sarcauga said.

The report showed that the number of PESO-placed jobseekers constitute 76 percent of the majority of 1,456,926 jobseekers referred for job placement for the one year period.

In the report, these 1,108,908 jobseekers who were hired during the year represents a 20.3 percent growth, or 225,595 more job placements, compared to the 883,313 jobseekers the PESO network placed in 2010.

Of the total number of workers hired, almost two-thirds (62.05 percent, or 688,147) found jobs in the private sector and the other third (37.94 percent, or 420,761) in the government sector.

Sarcauga said that the placement rate achieved last year reflects the high-level of confidence that employers from both the private and government sectors have at the PESOs.

DOLE’s aim this year is for the PESO network to facilitate the placement of 1.2 million jobseekers.

The PESOs were created under Republic Act 8759 and are administered by DOLE through the BLE, an attached agency.

PESOs are linked to DOLE regional offices for coordination and technical supervision in the performance of the PESOs mandate of providing job search assistance services.

Under the PESO law, employers are encouraged to submit to the PESO, on a regular basis, a list of job vacancies in their respective establishments in order to facilitate the exchange of labor market information services to job seekers.  (FREEMAN)