Over 200,000 jobs were offered at the annual Labor Day Job Fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment. 

The jobs fair was held in various cities across the country.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said many sectors have high vacancies and some in demand jobs include production operator, sales clerk, call center representative, service crew, and micro finance officer.

“Manufacturing sector, services, laging malaki ang bahagi sa tinatagawag natin na IT at business process outsourcing sector. At syempre food and accommodation services, sa hotel and tourism industry,” Laguesma said on the industries with many vacancies.

One of the biggest job fairs is held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay. SM Supermalls is co-organizing the fair and it said there are also government booths like the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG Fund, and more to help employees.

Many companies under the SM Group also joined the job fair. Royston Cabunag, AVP for Job Fairs of SM Supermalls said they have noticed many sectors have a lot of vacancies due to the expanding economy.

“Retailers we’ve seen really growth in the sector including services, noticeably also in tech, IT, BPO industries,” said Cabunag.

Secretary Laguesma however admitted that Filipino workers still need to upskill and reskill due to the changing trends in the labor market. Several new technologies were also presented at the job fair at the SMX Convention Center like robotics, among others.

“Minsan ang nagiging problema laging binabanggit hindi sapat ang kakayahan so sinasalu sila ng TESDA upang dagdagan ang kanilang kasanayan,” Laguesma said.

The Labor Day Job Fair was held only on May 1, but SM Supermalls will have many job fairs scheduled all throughout the month of May.