LAOAG CITY: Ilocos Norte continues to maintain a 99 percent employment rate, placing the Provincial Employment Service Office (PESO) as the best performer in Region 1 due to its numerous programs aimed to provide job opportunities to locals. Citing latest data, PESO head Anne Marie Lizzette Atuan, in a media interview on Wednesday, said around 350,000 individuals were employed in 2023. She said hundreds of vacancies are being posted daily at https://www.workinilocosnorte.ph, an online jobs portal being maintained by the provincial government. Opportunities are also available through job fairs all year-round, the Special Program for the Employment of Students, the Jobstart program, and the provision of emergency employment and livelihood assistance programs to ensure that marginalized earners, including out-of-school youth (OSY), will have the opportunity to earn. All these form part of the Task Force Trabaho program launched by the provincial government in 2012, which has generated around 50,000 jobs so f ar. Jordan Mistranza, a call center agent from this city said, "Job hunting in the province is made easy" with the collaborative efforts of the provincial government and other concerned agencies, including private companies. 'I am thankful for the many job opportunities that came my way. I no longer have to travel far to get the job I want,' he said in an interview. A former student intern of the provincial government, Kenneth Natividad, from this city, also expressed his gratitude to the provincial government as he was hired as one of the content writers of the Communications and Media Office after finishing his internship program. 'I am lucky to find my dream job at the provincial government. The training and opportunities to grow are so great,' he added. On Tuesday, over PHP10 million were again released to 1,616 marginalized workers who were hired under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating mga Displaced/Disadvantaged (TUPAD) program. Atuan said this is just the first batch of the emergency employment program for this year, and over a thousand job vacancies are up for grabs in May in time for the Labor Day celebration. Source: Philippines News Agency
