BAGUIO CITY – The City Council body approved a resolution requesting the city’s Public Employment Service Office (PESO), in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), to conduct a job matching of the vacant positions and the qualified applicants of the businesses expected to resume operations after the implementation of the general community quarantine (GCQ) is lifted.
The council, in the said resolution, stated that priority to employment should be given to the residents of the city qualified for the vacant positions in the different establishments that can resume operation this general community quarantine (GCQ) period and the upcoming new normal.
Under the approved resolution, the council said that PESO, in coordination with DOLE, shall gather data on the job requirements of the businesses expected to resume operations when the situation returns to normal.
City legislators pointed out the said offices shall then match the job description with the job specifications of every vacancy utilizing its existing database.
Job description defines the task, roles and responsibilities while job specifications is the overview of all the experiences, attributes, qualifications and other key factors possessed by the job seeker.
The PESO is a community-based employment service entity that provides a venue for adequate information and assistance on employment opportunities and services in the locality.
Further, the PESO is a network of employment services established to ensure the smooth exchange of information and recruitment assistance between the job seekers and employers.
The council asserts the present crisis created a pandemic unemployment situation due to the forced closure of numerous business establishments during the period of community quarantine imposed by the government to fight the rapid spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID) 2019.
The body claims that because of the business shutdown, many individuals lost their jobs and are allegedly unlikely to get another employment until business activities will normalize after the quarantine is lifted.
Ironically, businesses are allowed to resume operations on a limited basis with a maximum of 50 percent of their work force allowed to report for work, while the remaining workers will have to embrace work from home or other alternative work arrangements allowed under existing quarantine guidelines.
On the other hand, a number of companies, mostly micro businesses, were compelled to lay off their workers because of huge losses incurred by the establishments during the implementation of the quarantine period.
The council stipulates the importance of providing displaced workers with timely employment opportunities with the businesses that will be allowed to operate for them to have income to support their families who had been heavily impacted by the implementation of the community quarantine.
By DEXTER A. SEE
