LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Gov. Ramon Guico III has given jobs to nearly 20,000 unemployed Pangasinenses since he assumed office in July 2022.
The 19,610 is nearly twice the 10,000 jobs he assured when he filed to run as governor in October 2021.
Of these, more than 99 percent or 19,508 were given jobs locally and 102 or .52 percent are now working overseas, said Pangasinan Public Employment Services Office (PESO) head Richelle Raguindin.
She said that they were able to achieve this by continuously conducting various job generating activities and projects such as regular jobs fair; job fair caravans; employability enhancement program (EEP); and special program for employment of students.
Aside from job opportunities, the Pangasinan PESO also conducts different skills trainings to help equip individuals such as the out-of-school-youths, unemployed adults and heads of families, persons with disability, women to include single mothers among others, for future employability.
Some of the trainings include basic electrical troubleshooting, basic carpentry, livelihood and other entrepreneurial coaching that will transform beneficiaries become self-reliant and skilled.
Gov. Guico aims to address unemployment in the province through provision of intensive employment facilitation and giving easier access to jobseekers especially those the indigents.
For the youth, the provincial government had been fully supportive of the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), an employment-bridging program during summer or school breaks. The program provides jobs for students who belong to low-income families as well as the out-of-school youth and dependents of displaced workers.
In the three years Gov. Guico served as governor, the Pangasinan PESO had 670 beneficiaries from July 2022 to present. Broken down, there were 253 beneficiaries in 2022; 150 in 2023; 137 last year and 130 this year.
Recently, an employers forum was conducted by the province in partnership with various stakeholders to come up with strategic plan to basically address various challenges in the labor market today.
“Nais kong mabigyan ng oportunidad ang bawat Pangasinense na magka-trabaho locally at maging sa abroad,” Gov. Guico said.
[I want to provide equal opportunities for every Pangasinense to work locally and even abroad.]
Those who attended the employers forum came from the different government agencies, education sector, private sector associations, local employers, licensed overseas recruitment agencies, and PESO managers from different localities in the province.
(Ruby F. Rayat/PIMRO)
