CSC urges gov't agencies, jobseekers to join online career fair

A Civil Service Commission (CSC) official on Friday urged government agencies and jobseekers to participate in a weeklong online career fair slated for September.

Commissioner Aileen Lizada encouraged government agencies to register their vacancies from July 1 to August 14. The online job fair will be held from September 14 to 18 through hiring site JobStreet.

"It is very important that we have the correct number of people in a corresponding agency para ho hindi ho sila mahirapan to serve the public," Lizada said at the Laging Handa briefing.

Though the Philippines has some 1.9 million government employees, Lizada said they are "still lacking in numbers" and urged agency heads to fill their vacant positions.

In last year's CSC career fair, 5,171 jobseekers applied for 7,327 vacancies, she said.

Meanwhile, Lizada said she supports the lowering of the optional retirement age of government employees from 60 to 56.

The House of Representatives approved a bill for this purpose late last year. Senate President Vicente Sotto III, for his part, said the government should offer early retirement incentives to employees so the state could cut down on personnel expenses and allocate funds to other priority initiatives. —KBK, GMA News