DOLE to ask businesses for info on manpower requirements

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Saturday said it would ask businesses to provide information on their manpower requirements so that it could take action to improve the employability of K-12 graduates.

“Ang aming gusto sanang resulta ng aming konsultasyon sa mga business organization, bigyan kami ng advance na impormasyon. Para kapag nakita namin ang kanilang manpower requirements, makagawa kami ng intervention,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in a Dobol B TV interview.

(We hope that our consultations with business organizations will lead to them providing us with information in advance so that once we check their manpower requirements, we can make interventions.)

For now, Laguesma said the DOLE will help students upgrade their skills and strengthen its market information system so they have access to companies offering jobs.

On Wednesday, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) admitted that fresh graduates and those who finished the K-12 program were at the lower end of employers’ hiring priorities.

ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said that companies prioritize employees they laid off during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also said that businesses prefer applicants with college degrees and extensive work experience.

Laguesma said that while some companies may prefer to hire graduates with college degrees, the job qualifications should not be discriminatory. — Jamil Santos/VBL, GMA Integrated News