Independence Day job fair, a failure – KMU

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) slammed the Aquino government’s job fairs held yesterday, Independence Day, for failing to provide jobs to a substantial number of applicants, saying job fairs do not make a dent in reducing unemployment in the country.

The Department of Labor and Employment itself admitted through National Capital Region officer-in-charge Benjo Benavidez that only about 10% of the projected job applicants are likely to be hired on the spot in the said job fair.

Last Independence Day, acting DOLE Secretary Danilo Cruz in an interview said that “The celebration of the nation’s independence is also a timely occasion for the DOLE to unchain the jobless from the shackles of unemployment.”

“Despite the Aquino government’s grandiose statements about unshackling the jobless from unemployment, the Independence Day job fair is clearly a big failure. It proved to be a waste of time for the majority of the applicants who went and applied, as it failed to provide jobs to at least a significant portion of the applicants,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“The Aquino government’s excuse, that jobs do not match the applicants’ competencies, is already an old tune by now. It is an illusion being created by the government to keep applicants going, to deny the chronic lack of decent employment in the country, and to pass the blame for failing to be employed on to applicants themselves,” he added.

Despite repeated job fairs by the government, the number of unemployed Filipinos still rose by around 27.2 percent in March, to around 11.3 million from 9.9 million in November 2010, according to a survey by the Social Weather Stations last May. According to KMU, this should be reason enough to say that job fairs are not solution to unemployment.

“The applicants which we have interviewed told us that most of the jobs being offered in the Independence Day job fair were agency-hiring and job pooling for construction, while only a few were direct hiring. Despite being presented as a cure for the massive unemployment in the country, job fairs merely offer the unsatisfactory employment opportunities in the country,” Labog said.

“The government’s job fairs have been totally discredited by their shameful inability to provide jobs to at least a significant portion of the applicants. Job fairs cannot hide the fact that the Aquino government has failed to provide decent employment opportunities to the Filipino people by developing the country’s agriculture and industries,” he added.