PEZA to hold job expo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is launching a job expo and online skills training on Wednesday to provide employment opportunities in ecozones to workers displaced by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a statement, PEZA said the job expo and online skills training to be launched at the investment promotion agency’s office in Taguig and via Facebook live, form part of the Development Outreach for Labor Livelihood and Advancement Resources or DOLLAR program being implemented with ecozone locators.

“PEZA is strongly committed and unrelenting in its efforts to promote investment and employment that will benefit the Filipino people amidst the pandemic. With the support of our 4,584 registered companies, PEZA initiates this job expo, which will inform Filipinos that there are thousands of jobs waiting in our different types of ecozones,” PEZA director general Charito Plaza said.

Plaza said the DOLLAR program is being implemented in support of Administrative Order 18 issued last year, which seeks to accelerate growth in rural areas through the development of economic zones.

PEZA’s DOLLAR program is also in line with the goal of Executive Order 114 or the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa program.

“The DOLLAR job expo and online skills training programs are PEZA’s initiatives to help thousands of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), as well as locally laid-off workers rendered jobless by the pandemic,” Plaza said.

She said the program is open to unemployed Filipinos of any working age willing to work for PEZA-registered firms in information technology-business process outsourcing,  manufacturing and assembly lines, including electronics and garments, and agro-industrial sectors.

As of July 16, there are 69,081 projected job opportunities in the ecozones across the Philippines.

Of the total, 23,644 available jobs are from firms in ecozones in Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon), Pampanga, and Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, there are 14,126 job vacancies in the Visayas and Mindanao, and 2,500 job opportunities in Baguio and other locators in the North.

Some 28,811 jobs are expected to become available from new investment projects recently approved by PEZA.

To learn more about the job vacancies, interested individuals may visit the online portal powered by Workbank Philippines Inc. to be made available during the DOLLAR program’s launch.

After the launch, a job expo will be conducted in the Cavite Economic Zone, Baguio City Economic Zone, Mactan Economic Zone and in Davao next month.