Unemployment rate in Eastern Visayas decreases

UNEMPLOYMENT rate in Eastern Visayas slightly decreased this year compared to last year, the Labor department said.

“Based on the data that we got from the National Statistics Office, pinaka-latest natin is April of 2012, meron tayong unemployment rate of five percent,” said Exequiel Sarcauga, Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) regional director.

“This is actually way below the 6.9-percent unemployment from the national average so that five percent is something like 97,000 unemployed for Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) then this is slightly lower compared to April of last year 2011, which is actually 5.7 percent or 102,000 unemployed so may pagbaba or drop at this point in time,” Sarcauga said.

He said the drop in unemployment rate in the region is attributed to the job fairs the Labor department has conducted the past months.

“One of the reasons is probably we have strengthened our job fairs conducted last year. In fact, meron mga series of job fairs that was done not only by the Department of Labor and Employment but also by the local government units all over the region,” Sarcauga said.

He also said the Dole’s Skills Registry System (SRS) program contributed to the drop of unemployment rate in the region.

SRS is a nationwide database registry system that will connect the country’s manpower pool to the present manpower demands both locally and abroad.

The system is linked to other databases of other allied agencies like the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Foreign Affairs, National Bureau of Investigation, and Clark Development Corporation, to speed up job hunting and processing and to minimize the expenses of applicants. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)