Jinggoy lauds DOLE for new round of talks on employment issues

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada today commended the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for holding a new round of multi-sectoral discussions on issues affecting labor and employment in the country, which he has been persistently calling for.

This, as the DOLE Institute of Labor Studies (ILS) yesterday held a forum titled, "Working World Trialogues: Square Pegs, Round Holes phenomenon in Solving Unemployment."

"I have consistently called the attention of labor agencies on the problems causing the non-maximization by Filipino workers of opportunities for local and overseas employment because of what is called as labor-skill mismatch, where millions of graduates and workers produced in the country do not possess critical skills demanded by industries in the country and abroad," Estrada lamented.

Estrada, concurrent chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, and of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment, cited a DOLE report that a total of nine million jobs - four million in the country and five million abroad - were available from 2006 to 2010, but only a portion of these could be filled in by Filipino workers because many do not have the needed skills.

"I have long been calling on concerned government agencies to initiate the holding of this new round of comprehensive discussions on the state of labor and employment in our country, the problems affecting these, and, what we should do to solve these problems. We had such discussions previously, but the problems have persisted. We need to undertake innovative measures to address this predicament," Estrada said.

"I am also concerned about the imminent massive displacement of Filipinos abroad in the midst of an international economic glut due to growing food and energy prices, as well as because of new, stricter immigration rules in several countries designed to minimize competition posed by migrant workers to their local workforces," he added.

Estrada has forwarded several recommendations which, he said, could be tackled and focused on by the Labor Department, such as: updating and upgrading of equipments and facilities used by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); requiring graduates of private technical education providers to undergo training and apprenticeship program with local industries; identifying in-demand skills locally and abroad for the next three years and even beyond; and, implementing income-augmentation projects for workers and their families through community-based small and medium-scale industries.