The city’s employment rate has been steadily rising since 2022, according to data from the Public Employment Services Office (PESO).

“We are having a successful employment rate of 96.2 percent. That equates to a total of 294,711 workforce we have employed in Iloilo City,” PESO Manager Gabriel Felix Umadhay said in an interview on Friday.

The city recorded an underemployment rate of 11.9 percent and an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.

In comparison, the employment rate stood at 94.6 percent in 2022 and increased to 95.6 percent in 2023.

Underemployment also saw improvement, decreasing from 14.2 percent in 2022 to 12.3 percent in 2023, while the unemployment rate dropped from 5.4 percent to 4.4 percent during the same period.

Umadhay said the increased employment rate was attributed to easier job access due to massive job fairs and recruitment activities and the strengthened recruitment program in schools.

“This is a testament that we are aggressive in our approach to capturing the labor force as well as providing inclusive programs so everybody can participate,” he said.

He added the city also aims to attract workers from nearby provinces by offering more employment opportunities.

“We want to show investors that Iloilo City is prepared for their businesses,” he said.

Aside from holding monthly job fairs and special recruitment activities, he said they also organized job fairs in schools, allowing some students to secure employment before graduating.

He said the top three most in-demand jobs in the city are nurses, civil engineers, and accounting personnel. (PNA)