'Govt, private sector partnership important'
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stressed the importance of collaboration between the government and private sector in addressing unemployment in the country. Marcos spoke during the two-day Jobstreet Career Con 2025 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City last week, where he lauded the SM Group for helping his administration generate jobs for Filipinos. SM Group was represented by Teresita Sy-Coson, vice chairman of SM Investments. She is also a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council's (PSAC) Education and Jobs Group, established by the president in 2022. "Cooperation between the government and the private sector is very important. Ma'am Tessie Coson, who has been with us from the start, opened the doors of SM malls for job fairs like this, which have been very successful," Marcos said. He said he was confident that many of the 18,000 job seekers at the fair would find employment. "When we did these job fairs and upskilling programs with SM before, they were very successful. So we said, let's try to do this more often," he said. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported a decline in unemployment, from 3.9 percent in October 2024 to 3.2 percent in November 2024. The figure is within the country's 51.2 million labor force, the PSA said. Marcos emphasized that the partnership between the government and private sector had led to various sectors and agencies working together to bridge employers and prospective employees. He said that upskilling programs were part of government initiatives aimed at improving employment and livelihood. Among the 130 companies that participated in the job fair were SM Retail, Nestle, Metrobank, Accenture, and others from various industries, such as information technology, business process management, retail, banking, construction, logistics, food services and manufacturing. In 2024, SM Supermalls hosted 183 job fairs nationwide, connecting approximately 107,000 job seekers with nearly 6,000 employers. Around 14,500 applicants were hired on the spot, reinforcing SM's role as a vital employment hub. The SM job fairs are part of the JOBS (Job Opportunities Building Skills) initiative, which hosts weekly job fairs in various SM malls. The two-day affair also featured government one-stop-shop services for employment documents, such as TIN, NBI or police clearance, SSS, Pag-IBIG, PhilHealth, and national ID. The SM job fairs are conducted in partnership with the PSAC, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Migrant Workers, local government units, Public Employment Service Offices, Jobstreet by SEEK, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the Philippine Exporters Confederation, and other industry associations. In the latter half of 2024, SM extended its job fair initiatives to various government agencies, including the Department of Health, the Department of Tourism, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Civil Service Commission.
Tomas Kauer - Moderator 
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stressed the importance of collaboration between the government and private sector in addressing unemployment in the country.
Marcos spoke during the two-day Jobstreet Career Con 2025 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City last week, where he lauded the SM Group for helping his administration generate jobs for Filipinos.
SM Group was represented by Teresita Sy-Coson, vice chairman of SM Investments. She is also a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council's (PSAC) Education and Jobs Group, established by the president in 2022.
"Cooperation between the government and the private sector is very important. Ma'am Tessie Coson, who has been with us from the start, opened the doors of SM malls for job fairs like this, which have been very successful," Marcos said.
He said he was confident that many of the 18,000 job seekers at the fair would find employment.
"When we did these job fairs and upskilling programs with SM before, they were very successful. So we said, let's try to do this more often," he said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported a decline in unemployment, from 3.9 percent in October 2024 to 3.2 percent in November 2024.
The figure is within the country's 51.2 million labor force, the PSA said.
Marcos emphasized that the partnership between the government and private sector had led to various sectors and agencies working together to bridge employers and prospective employees.
He said that upskilling programs were part of government initiatives aimed at improving employment and livelihood.
Among the 130 companies that participated in the job fair were SM Retail, Nestle, Metrobank, Accenture, and others from various industries, such as information technology, business process management, retail, banking, construction, logistics, food services and manufacturing.
In 2024, SM Supermalls hosted 183 job fairs nationwide, connecting approximately 107,000 job seekers with nearly 6,000 employers.
Around 14,500 applicants were hired on the spot, reinforcing SM's role as a vital employment hub. The SM job fairs are part of the JOBS (Job Opportunities Building Skills) initiative, which hosts weekly job fairs in various SM malls.
The two-day affair also featured government one-stop-shop services for employment documents, such as TIN, NBI or police clearance, SSS, Pag-IBIG, PhilHealth, and national ID.
The SM job fairs are conducted in partnership with the PSAC, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Migrant Workers, local government units, Public Employment Service Offices, Jobstreet by SEEK, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the Philippine Exporters Confederation, and other industry associations.
In the latter half of 2024, SM extended its job fair initiatives to various government agencies, including the Department of Health, the Department of Tourism, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Civil Service Commission.
