More than 1,600 applicants in various job fairs conducted through the Public Employment Services Office (PESO) in Bacolod City have been hired since January.
Among these are the 16 jobseekers hired on-the-spot during the Christmas Job Fair held at the Bacolod City Government Center on Sunday. Dec. 21.
Data on Monday showed that 1,585 individuals were employed through PESO-Bacolod as of Nov. 21 alone.
The figure excludes all those hired in the three other job fairs.
In a statement, PESO-Bacolod coordinator Jovelyn Canoy said the Christmas Job Fair offered employment opportunities to Bacolodnons during the holidays as part the city government’s commitment to job generation.
“We are glad to assist our job applicants in finding opportunities and employment as we welcome Christmas and the New Year,” she said.
During the Christmas Job Fair, John Sidrian Arguelles of Barangay Banago was immediately hired as a mason at a construction firm after being unemployed for two months.
“I tried applying and did not expect to be the first one to land a job before Christmas,” he said in an interview.
Arguelles said having a job will help him provide for his family, particularly for the needs of his seven-month-old baby girl.
More than 40 companies participated in the Christmas Job Fair, with 6,000 available jobs within the city.
From Jan. 1 to Nov. 21, at least 700 companies offered 112,155 job vacancies.*