President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo stressed during the Jobs Forum on Overseas Employment last March 2, 2009 at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall in Malacañang to improve skill matching with the jobs available in the market.
According to the data released by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) during the event, there are 500,000 jobs available for Filipinos overseas. However, DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque admitted that a lot of the job seekers do not have the skills necessary for the jobs available overseas, specially those located in the Middle East.
Jobs available overseas are in line with construction and healthcare services.
As such, the President has ordered the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to intensify its training and retraining of workers in skills that are responsive to the demands and requirements of these industries.
TESDA Director General Augusto Syjuco, during the forum, urged unemployed Filipinos to consider the Authority’s skills training and retraining courses, which are matched to the jobs available overseas.
A joint communiqué was presented to Arroyo wherein stakeholders in the labor sector pledged to enhance skills training, make the hiring of Filipinos abroad easier, improve the welfare of overseas Filipino workers, review employment contracts to enhance overseas working conditions, address the shortage of marine deck and engine officers, fight illegal recruitment, and improve the competitiveness of Philippine vessels at Malacañang during the forum.
Trabaho.com. thanks its following sources:
Sy, Marvin with Sheila Crisostomo, Philstar.com. GMA: Plenty of jobs available for Pinoy workers despite financial crisis (Posted March 3, 2009) Retrieved March 6, 2009 from
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=445126&publicationSubCategoryId=63
Samonte, Angelo S., The Manila Times. 500,000 overseas jobs available for Filipinos (Posted March 3, 2009) Retrieved March 6, 2009 from
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/march/03/yehey/top_stories/20090303top4.html
Guinto, Joel, INQUIRER.net with Christian Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer. Arroyo: 500,000 job openings abroad (Posted March 2, 2009) Retrieved March 6, 2009 from
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