DOLE’s Project Jobs Fit to address skills jobs mismatch

 

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it will put in place measures to identify skills preferred and demanded both by the local industry and employers overseas to guide students and new entrants to the labor market on college courses and vocational training to pursue to enable them fill up vacancies or engage in undertakings needed by the economy immediately upon graduation.   In a press conference Friday, Labor officials formally launched the" Project Jobs Fit: the DOLE 2020 Vision" which aims to identify within the next 10 months the preferred skills in priority industries that must be produced per region up to year 2020.  The project will put together a robustly flexible road map that would guide students and new entrants to the labor force in identifying college and technical-vocational courses that they may pursue  to land in available industry jobs or to engage in self-employment undertakings required by the economy after graduation.  The Jobs Fit road map would also be basis of the education sector and other concerned stakeholders in providing training and educational scholarships and in developing appropriate curricula and career materials. The measure is seen to address the perennial problem on jobs and skills mismatch in the country. Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said Project Jobs Fit is among the priority deliverable programs that the DOLE and its family of agencies commit to pursue and deliver to constituents beginning July 2009 to March 2010. The priority deliverables were conceptualized during the DOLE mid-year performance assessment and planning exercises held in Bohol recently. Under the project, concerned DOLE bureaus, offices, and agencies particularly the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), Maritime Training Council (MTC), Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and DOLE regional offices (ROs) will consult stakeholders for the identification of preferred skills in priority industries per region up to 2020 before the year ends. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) at the same time will determine the skills demanded by foreign employers and establish linkages with Philippine embassies for the setting up of labor market intelligence in countries without Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs). Meantime, the TESDA, PRC, MTC, DOLE ROs, in coordination with the National Maritime Polytechnic and the Maritime Office will prioritize the assessment and certification of critical skills.  The POEA, BLE, DOLE ROs in coordination with the International Labor Affairs Bureau, Institute for Labor Studies, and the National Wages and Productivity Commission, on the other hand, will develop and pilot the Skills Registry System (SRS) in key cities and provinces. The SRS will contain a registry of workers and their skills.  Employers can simply look at the registry and pick out qualified workers whom they could interview and hire to fill up vacancies. END/laa