ILOILO City – Construction boom is expected to further boost the employment rate in Western Visayas, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
“One of the reasons (of the growing employment rate) is the proliferation of hotels and restaurants and construction boom in Negros (Occidental) and Iloilo,” said DOLE regional director Engineer Cyril Ticao.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s January 2019 Labor Force Survey, DOLE said the employment rate in Region 6 climbed to 96.1 percent – one percent higher compared to that in the same period in 2017.
Region 6’s rate is also “significantly higher” than the country’s over-all employment rate of 94.8 percent.
Ticao said the closure of Boracay Island made an “impact” on the employment rate of the region but added that it is now picking up.
During the closure, DOLE recorded more than 28,000 workers affected, based on application for financial assistance that was submitted to their office.
“There were those who were reassigned to other places temporarily,” Ticao said.
Aside from the high employment rate, Region 6 also recorded improved underemployment rate for the same period. From 22.9 percent last year, the underemployment rate declined to 16.8 percent.
Niezel Anen Sabrido, labor focal person, said the top five needed jobs in Western Visayas are related to administrative and support service, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, manufacturing, and construction.
On May 1, around 2,000 applicants joined the Labor Day job fair in this city.
According to Sabrido, 1,488 of these applicants had pre-registered for the fair. The rest were walk-in applicants.
A total of 65 applicants were hired on the spot, added Sabrido.
The Labor Day job fair offered 40,000 job vacancies, 34,000 of which were overseas employment while 6,000 were local employment. (With Ime Sornito, PNA/PN)
