Youth Employment Exchange: JobStartPH latest digital product
Responding to the challenges of the pandemic, DOLE’s full-cycle employment facilitation service for at-risk youth, JobStart Philippines (JSP), has digitized one of its key components with the launch of Youth Employment Exchanged (YEE). An online tool linking the business sector with the JobStart trainees, the YEE shifts the JSP Employer Engagement component online to attract more private sector partners across expanded industry groups.
Employer Engagement is one of JSP’s key components. The business sector plays a vital role in the program by providing the youth beneficiaries with hands-on experience in the world of work, and eventually, hiring and placement. Engaging with business for JobStart allows the government to implement JSP successfully - resulting in a supply of a skilled and market-relevant youth workforce.
BLE personnel equipped with gender analysis tools
To improve gender analysis (GA) competencies and the use of relevant GA tools in the Bureau of Local Employment, Mr. Jill A. Borjal and Mr. Wilmer Karlo Pasague, Gender and Development Focal Point System representatives of the Bureau, attended a three-hour webinar session on the topic last 24 August 2021.
Aside from the basics of gender analysis, the webinar session facilitated by Ms. Vichel Rse Juguilion-Pangan of the National GAD Resource Pool also acquainted participants with two of the most useful gender analysis tools: the Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework and the Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines. According to Ms. Pangan, gender-based analysis helps identify gender issues and design strategies relevant to the organization’s existing projects and activities. It ensures the inclusion of gender-based concerns in the development agenda, and anticipates the impacts of the policies or services on both women and men.
Access to LMI improves youth career optimism
A study assessing the work expectations of Filipino Generation Z students finds positive links between access to labor market information (LMI) and career optimism. The survey, conducted by the Far Eastern University Public Policy Center (FPPC), was presented at a webinar titled ‘Are Gen Zs Ready for Work?’ on 20 August 2021, Friday. Labor Assistant Secretary and Concurrent Bureau of Local Employment Director Dominique Rubia-Tutay joined the forum for a panel discussion on the survey results.
The key findings of the study were presented by Dr. Maria Christina F. Epetia, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics and author of the policy paper on Gen-Z career optimism. The presentation focused on results of the College Experience Survey (CES), a longitudinal study conducted by the FPPC in partnership with various schools and universities nationwide and the primary data source of the policy paper. The CES monitors the journey of college students from freshman through senior year and how their college experience molds them as individuals.
DOLE on Sustaining Recovery Measures for the Tourism Sector
In view of the continuous concerns faced by the tourism sector during the pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment was invited by the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) in a forum held on 18 August 2021 to provide updates on the agency’s mitigating measures and regulations.
Undersecretary Ana C. Dione of the Regional Operations, Labor Standards and Special Concerns Cluster, and Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay of the Employment and General Administration Cluster acknowledged the plight of the tourism sector given the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed their continuous support for the recovery of the sector as one of the hardest-hit industries in the country.
DOLE-BLE recertified to ISO 9001:2015 Standard
Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III proudly announced to the DOLE Central Office, including the DOLE-Bureau of Local Employment, through a Memorandum dated 22 July 2021 the agency’s re-certification to the ISO 9001:2015 Standard by SOCOTEC Certification Philippines, Inc., a third-party ISO auditor. The third-party auditor also commended the DOLE’s Quality Management System (QMS) maturity after undergoing the re-assessment audit conducted on 21-20 June 2021.
DOLE: ensuring youth access to employment amid pandemic
The Department of Labor and Employment, through Assistant Secretary and Concurrent BLE Director Dominique Rubia-Tutay, reaffirmed its commitment to providing efficient employment programs and services for today’s youth during the launching of YouthCan! Philippines on 12 August 2021.
Recognizing the tough challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, ASec. Rubia-Tutay underscored the importance of turning this juncture into an opportunity to bring our focus to the vulnerable members of society. As discourse turn to bouncing back and sustaining recovery, the government must ensure that the youth have unhampered access to employment and economic opportunities.
