Labor Day Job and Livelihood Fair
01 May 2012
Today’s Labor Day celebration is focused not only on the nation’s workers but also on the soon-to-be workers who will come mostly from the ranks of the out-of school youth (OSY).
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) distributes today, May 1, the initial training commitment certificates to some 1,000 out-of-school youth from Metro Manila’s poorest barangays.
Qualified OSYs from Metro Manila’s poorest communities will be awarded training scholarships in priority job qualifications and prepare them for job opportunities or starting their own businesses.
Secretary Joel J. Villanueva, TESDA director general, will lead the awarding of certificates to the program beneficiaries at the Labor Day Job and Livelihood Fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Pasay City.
Earlier, TESDA and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) agreed to provide training opportunities to qualified 7,000 OSYs from all over the country under the two major programs of both agencies.
The joint undertaking which involves the convergence of TESDA’s Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) and DOLE’s Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) will make vocational training accessible to many young people who could not continue their studies to college because of poverty.
The youth beneficiaries will be recruited from the country’s poorest municipalities as identified by the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cluster composed of heads of various government departments and agencies.
The TWSP-SPES program is covered by a joint circular between TESDA and DOLE signed by Secretary Villanueva and Lourdes Trasmonte, DOLE Undersecretary for Labor Standards and Social Protection.
Qualified applicants are those aged 15 to 25, have reached high school level, and have passing grades during the last school term attended.
The program is also open to occupationally-disabled workers, persons with disabilities, displaced workers, and victims of human trafficking, illegal recruitment, or child labor.
Training duration will be for a minimum of 20 days (160 hours) up to 52 days (416 hours).
The training program, according to Secretary Villanueva, will be for a full qualification or a cluster of units of competencies in the following trade areas:
In addition to the free employment facilitation services and skills training opportunities, the 2012 Labor Day Job and Livelihood Fair also features TESDA’s mobile training bus, barista skills demonstration, and free massage, haircut, manicure and pedicure services.
Aside from the WTC in Metro Manila, the Job and Livelihood Fair is also being mounted in 57 other venues nationwide including 24 SM malls and four Robinson’s Place branches nationwide.
The 2012 Labor Day celebration is anchored on the theme, “Pagtutulungan. Pagbabago. Disenteng Trabaho.”, which highlights the DOLE and attached agencies’ efforts in facilitating workers' and employers' search for jobs and skills.
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