218,639 positions in government vacant - Recto

Government was told to fill a "significant portion" of the officially reported 218,639 job vacancies in national government offices in order to ease joblessness, especially among the youth, which accounts for one in three unemployed.

The call was made by Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto who said that the bureaucracy can also absorb the largest sector in the nation's unemployed pool - some 536,072 who have college diplomas.

"There's a huge talent pool which can be tapped," Recto said, after disclosing that of the 1,513,695 total permanent job positions in the national government, only 1,295,056 will be occupied this year, leaving a vacancy of 218,639.

"There's almost a quarter of a million unfilled positions in the national government plantilla," he said. The number excludes unfilled personnel items in local governments and government corporations.

Recto said Congress has allocated P16.9 billion in the 2016 national budget to fund some but not all unfilled items, while P7.7 billion has likewise been authorized for new positions.

"But it doesn't mean that hiring will be limited by what these amounts allow because items vacated due to promotion, resignation or retirement, and which will be taken over by an employee already in the service, are already funded by regular personal services allocation," Recto said.

Among the agencies which will recruit a big number of personnel this year are the Health and Education departments.

The DoH is slated to take in 21,118, including 946 doctors, 15,727 nurses, 3,100 midwives, 308 medical technologists, 324 dentists at a payroll cost of P7 billion.

The DepED, on the other hand, will create 62,320 teaching positions.

Other agencies that have posted hiring notices are the DPWH, which initially needs 1,396 civil engineers, and the Philippine National Police, as part of its ongoing efforts to fill 22,684 vacant slots, mostly non-commissioned officer items.

The DSWD also needs project development officers to manage its growing social protection portfolio. But Recto said a reading of the Staffing Summary, a document which details the number of personnel in the national government, shows "the dimension of unfilled positions."

"While not all of these slots must be filled urgently, in fact there may be no need to fill some of them, for reasons of efficiency and economy, they still show career opportunities in public service for those with the qualifications and the drive to take them," Recto said.

"In the case of DepED, despite its massive recruitment, it will still end the year with 64,963 vacant positions," Recto said.

The Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies have 4,633 unfilled positions, while the Commission on Audit only has 7,752 items filled out of 14,102.

On paper, there are 2,729 vacant fireman positions in the Bureau of Fire Protection, while the Coast Guard lists 1,108.

The judiciary has 9,914 vacant posts, with only 25,152 out of 35,066 positions filled. Under the General Appropriations Act, however, it has the autonomy to create new positions, transfer an item, or make other adjustments in the personal services administration.

The DENR has less than half of its authorized positions filled, or 9,675 out of 19,510, as reported in the 2016 Staffing Summary.

But Recto explained that not all positions will be filled as some of these may have been deemed redundant . "And besides, it takes taxpayer's money to fund them. Money saved on payroll can be used for operations and projects."

But frontline agencies or offices with critical functions, "must be occupied by warm bodies, in the interest of public service."

"Kung kulang ng traffic police, equipment operator sa road maintenance, engineers sa flood control, teachers, dentista, at doon sa mga ahensya na mahaba ang pila, doon tayo dapat magdagdag," he said.

In the government's October 2015 Labor Force Survey, 32 percent of the estimated 2.372 million unemployed were in the 25-34 age bracket.

In addition, 35.9 percent of the jobless attended college, with 22.6 percent, or 536,072, having completed it.

Academics and labor leaders, however, have pointed out that to arrive at the real unemployment rate, the underemployed must be counted, which numbered 7.021 million in the October job count, thus bringing the jobless number to 9.393 million, or 23.3 percent of the nation's workforce.