Election year seen as a boon to jobless Pinoys

ASIDE from the economy, the May midterm election is being seen as a big boost to the country’s employment program, a top official of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole).

Dole Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said she expects a good year for jobless individuals in finding work for themselves.

“Unemployment is unlikely to rise because they can find jobs early this year because of the forthcoming elections,” Baldoz said.

She said such expectations stem from the usual practice of local politicians hiring more personnel during the campaign period and on Election Day itself.

Baldoz’s statement is ably supported by an earlier claim of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who had said election spending is going to be one of the biggest contributors to economic growth in 2013.

Aside from this, the labor chief assured that Dole will not rest on its laurels in providing more employment and reduce the high number of jobless people in the country.

“We will be more pro-active this year and will start laying down the foundation for a long term solution to our unemployment problem,” Baldoz said.

This, she said, is after the department had allocated the greater bulk of the 2013 budget for skills training and to enable more workers to find better employment.

Baldoz also said she had met with all the country’s labor attaches in a bid to identify employment prospects for Filipinos while also ensuring the welfare of all overseas Filipino workers.

Based on the October 2012 Labor Force Survey, there is an estimated 2.8 million, which translated an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent. (HDT)