Wanted: More proactive PESO

THIS EARLY the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) of the Iloilo provincial government is urging job hunters to prepare for a two-day job fair – on Dec. 7 and 8. At least 29,000 job vacancies and job orders are up for grabs. Last year, PESO managed to help find employment to 5,577 Ilonggos.

A study by the Asian Development Bank showed that college graduates in the Philippines typically take one to two years on the average to find regular employment while high school graduates would take three to four years to land a regular job.

A mismatch between what industries need and the skills of our graduates has been cited as reason for the high unemployment and underemployment rates in the country. This may have contributed to the graduates’ long, drawn-out search for jobs, too. The government’s various PESOs across the country can greatly help in this regard like what the PESO-Iloilo is doing.

PESOs can help make the transition period between graduation and employment much shorter with a wide range of career options. Every local government unit (LGU) must have a PESO. These serve as information centers where job seekers, especially in rural areas, can ask about available employment opportunities and services offered by the Department of Labor and Employment and other labor-related agencies.

But how functional are our PESOs? Do they have funds from the LGUs? Are they staffed with competent people? PESOs must always have updated labor market information. Do they have the right employment facilitation service through computerized systems of monitoring, coordination, and reporting, for example?

It is important that employment creation initiatives are matched with local training programs and livelihood activities. These are the tasks of PESOs.

PESO officers should be able to take a more proactive role of being local employment policy advisers, employment creation managers, and training managers.