PNoy graces JobStart Forum on 2015 Labor Day

President Benigno S. Aquino III, on this year’s Labor Day, 1 May 2015, joined the JobStart Forum on the Filipino Youth in the Labor Market at the J Centre Convention Hall, Mandaue City as part of his Labor Day activities in the province of Cebu. Secretary of

Labor and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz accompanied the President to the forum, together with other members of the Cabinet, officials and staff of the national and regional Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the city’s officials.

The President met with the JobStart Philippines youth beneficiaries – or the JobStarters – and other recipients of DOLE programs on employment facilitation, including the well-received Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) and DOLE-Government Internship Program (GIP), Assistance for Welfare, Employment, Legal and Livelihood (Assist-WELL) for returing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA) Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP).

The forum also gathered partner local government units (LGUs), employers and government officials to showcase the collaborative efforts of the government – national and local – and the private sector in actively promoting youth participation in the labor market.

“With the adoption of a new and enhanced model for employment facilitation service, the expected placement rate of JobStarters of the pilot implementation is at least 80%, up from the prevailing 60-65% rates in recent years,” Secretary Baldoz said. “Of the 1,435 youth graduates of life skills training since June 2014, the commencement of JobStart’s pilot run, we now have 200 JobStarters with regular employment for the first quarter of 2015,” she reported.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), LGUs involved in the pilot stage of JobStart, government officials, and JobStarters were at the Forum and narrated their respective JobStart experiences.

The Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), headed by Director Dominique Tutay, set up exhibit booths at the venue. Along with JobStart, SPES, DOLE-GIP, Assist WELL, and TWSP, also featured in the exhibit were the DOLE’s Labor Market Information (LMI) Corner, Career Ambassadors, Philippine Talent Mapping Initiative (PTMI), Productivity Champions, and Mandaue Chamber of Commerce.

The forum was capped with messages of support from Mr. Richard Bolt, Country Director from ADB, and Mr. Stephen Weaver, Head of Cooperation from the Embassy of Canada in Manila. DOLE Undersecretary Ciriaco A. Lagunzad III concluded the event.

The theme of the JobStart Forum is “Investing in Filipino Youth Employability and Competitiveness: A Public-Private Partnership”. The event is organized by DOLE in partnership with City Government of Mandaue, ADB, and Government of Canada.

About the featured photo (above): PNoy poses with JobStarters who shared testimonials in one of the 2015 Labor Day activities in the province of Cebu.

JobStart Philippines, a first of its kind in Southeast Asia, will

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facilitation model. It is great news that JobStart has been

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SEC. ROSALINDA DIMAPILIS-BALDOZ

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PhilJobNet, at forefront in online employment facilitation “We have made huge strides in the recent year in our agenda of providing Filipino jobseekers access and opportunity to start, grow,

and expand their careers in various industries and businesses in the labor market,” said DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz. “The PhilJobNet alone, on its first year of operation with its enhanced features for the period April 2014 to March 2015, has recorded 1,822,529 job vacancies,” she continued.

In 2012, PhilJobNet has started undergoing re-engineering to make its job search function more effective through a computerized job matching and referral system. This initiative was a response to President Benigno S. Aquino III’s directive on intensive job-skill matching in the country. The first phase of enhancement has resulted to the integration of the Skills Registry System (SRS) to PhilJobNet. SRS is the repository of computerized information on available manpower and their corresponding skills. The enhanced PhilJobNet’s operation was in full swing since the first semester of 2014.

The next enhancement phase happened in the second semester of 2014 when DOLE, in partnership with The Now Group and Quantum X, Inc., has ventured on expanding the accessibility of PhilJobNet’s LMI, through the development of a user-friendly platform of the site, and introduction of its new channels – the PhilJobNet mobile application and the new generation of Job Search Kiosks.

Subsequent to the official launching of the new look and enhanced features of PhilJobNet in October 2014, its mobile application was also made available for download through Google Play and Apple Store. Further, the Job Search Kiosk, a subsystem of the PhilJobNet, offers system synchronization features allowing full content job search and matching delivery, at any time or on demand, even without internet connection. Two hundred (200) additional Job Search Kiosks are now being deployed in the nearest Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), high schools, universities and colleges, and malls nationwide to bring timely and relevant LMI closer to the jobseekers.

PTMI to profile 21st Century Skills of Filipinos “By assessing and evaluating the competencies of the participants, key strengths and weaknesses of Filipino learners (students

and trainees) and workforce (employed and unemployed) in terms of their preferences, career prospects and must-have workplace competencies can be identified,” said DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz on the Philippine Talent Mapping Initiative (PTMI).

The BLE, together with the Servicio Filipino, Inc. (SFI) Group of Companies, is piloting PTMI which identifies and examines, through a standardized assessment and survey aligned with Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ (P21) Framework for 21st Century Learning, the current trends and issues that both the academe and the industry face in terms of workforce development.

It is expected that the study to be augmented from the initiative could provide evidence of the gaps on foundational career readiness skills. The data can be used as basis in fine-tuning school and training curricula to be more responsive with the needs of the industry. Getting a detailed skills and competency profile of the workforce would likewise provide key labor and employment stakeholders relevant and current LMI.

A pilot project, PTMI is designed to be implemented in LGUs by their Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs). Caloocan, Mandaluyong, and Quezon Cities are presently participating in the profiling activity. The PTMI assessment tests are being taken by the LGUs’ PESO staff, selected graduating high school students, and some applicants during their conduct of job fairs.

The PTMI was already presented in the 51st meeting of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) which is being chaired by Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista on 21 March 2015. The project received the approval of the LCP Committee and an endorsement resolution is being anticipated to set forth PMTI’s implementation in city LGUs across the country. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Export Development Council (EDC) also backed the PTMI implementation. A briefing with the heads and representatives of Technical Vocational Institutions (TVIs) was conducted on 30 March 2015 and resulted to a total of 789 pledges for trainee participants from 11 TVIs. The assessment started on 10 April 2015 and continued for two weeks. Likewise, a meeting with the EDC secretariat was held on 31 March 2015 which was followed by the conduct of the PTMI assessment test run among the council’s employees. On 23 April 2015, another PTMI orientation for EDC’s industry association representatives was held which as well sought for pledges/commitments from employers.

The PTMI Talent Scorecard (above) will assess the Filipinos’ 21st Century Skills.

The initial findings of the PTMI’s first round of implementation was presented by BLE and SFI in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Human Resource Development Working Group (HRD-WG) Meeting held on 14-17 May 2015 in Boracay Island, Aklan.

The PTMI was conceived with the premise that soft skills – other countries and organizations call them transferrable skills, key competencies, essential skills, etc. – have been receiving recognition of their importance in the modern-day workplace. “We are introducing the PTMI to complement our initiatives in strengthening the country’s LMI system. PTMI’s profiling the Filipinos’ 21st Century Skills will pave the way to a more comprehensive, reliable, and up-to-date LMI system,” Secretary Baldoz ended.

Editorial Board: Dir. Dominique Tutay | Ms. Ruth RodriguezText, Design, and Layout: Mr. Kempee Royce Cruz | Mr. Edmund DarucaContributing Writer: Mr. Miguel Arias

BLE-Information, Education, and Communications Team

ble.lmircgad@gmail.com | (02) 527-2539