Enhancing the Performance of the Philippine Public
Employment Service Office (PPESO): Drawing Lessons
from Japan’s Public Employment Security Office (JPESO)1/

Section IA.

Introduction/Backgrounder

For the last three years, the incidence of unemployment in thePhilippines has remained at a static rate of 11.4 percent. The bleak
employment performance can be attributed to the interplay of internal(e.g., peace and order situation, El Nino phenomenon, local politicalscandals, etc) and external factors (e.g., Iraq conflict, September 11
tragedy, SARs outbreak). But aside from these aggravating factors, thepersistence of these concerns can be traced to the perennial problems of
mismatch of skills and evolving economic restructuring.
To address the escalating number of unemployed andunderemployed, the Philippine government embarked on several
employment strategies, one of which is improving the delivery of
employment services subsumed under the public employment service
offices or PESOs – a non-fee charging entities intended to facilitate job
exchanges in key localities of the country. The establishment of PESOs
through its array of job placement and counseling services, therefore,
aims to contribute in the reduction in the incidence of unemployment
and underemployment in the country by addressing the problem ofmismatch of skills.
To date, there are about 1,765 network of PESOs nationwide.
However, only 1,531 are considered functional or active. Based on a
/ This paper is presented by Ms. Jeanette D. Tana, Chief Labor and Employment
Officer of the Employment Research Division of the Institute for Labor Studies(Philippines) in relation to her participation as Visiting Researcher to the Foreign
Researcher Short-Term Invitation Program of the Japan Institute for Labor Policy andTraining (JILPT), held in Tokyo, Japan from 12 May-12 June 2004.
1

1

mid-year 2003 report of the Philippine Department of Labor and
Employment, the network of 1,433 PESOs have facilitated the local
placement of only 285,000 job seekers, accounting for 7.2 percent of thetotal unemployed.
In cognizance of its limited contribution to ease the pressure in
the local labor market, there have been plans in the offing to strengthen
the job search and placement, and career counseling services of PESO.
One way of tackling such challenging tasks is by drawing lessons fromthe frontrunners.
Japan’s job introduction and career counseling system as
facilitated by its conglomerate of Public Employment Security Offices(JPESOs) is indeed a showcase of one of the best practices. Though thePhilippines and Japan PESOs are incomparable given the advancement
and comprehensiveness of the latter’s PESOs, there are indications thatsome of its features can be adopted to improve and strengthen thePhilippine job search and placement, and career counseling services.
It is therefore in this light that this study is undertaken – toenhance the Philippine PESO by drawing lessons from Japan’s PESO
experience.
Objectives of the Study
The study aims to:
1.
2.
3.

identify the critical elements in the operationalization of Japan’s
PESOs;
provide recommendations on how to improve the Philippine PESOS
by drawing from Japan’s PESO experience; andidentify some proposed areas for exploratory study.

2

Methodology
The study utilizes both primary and secondary data.
Inobtaining primary data, interviews with some policy and program
implementers directly in charge of JPESOs as well as with a key
informant from the private sector was conducted. Observation tours tosome JPESOs were likewise undertaken. In terms of secondary data,
related literature were culled from journals and bulletins.
Scope and Limitations
The study basically covers only discussion on Japan’s
employment facilitation services particularly on job search andplacement, and career counseling provided by its JPESOs. This isbecause the Philippine PESO’s (PPESOs) scope of employment services
only cover those aforecited services, and exclude the administration of
employment insurance and employment management services.
Structure of the Report
The study is divided into the following sections: the first section
briefly presents a backgrounder, objectives, methodology, and scope andlimitations of the study; the second section provides an overview of thePhilippine employment situation for the last three years (2001-03) and abriefer on the Philippine public employment service offices (PPESOs); thethird section focuses on the employment facilitation services of JapanPESOS (JPESOs), its key features, a briefer on the Shinjyuku PESO as an
example, and the existence of other “players”; and the last section
highlights some recommendations on how to improve PPESOs by
drawing some lessons from the experience of JPESOs employment
facilitation services, as well as possible areas for exploratory study.

3Section II
A Briefer on the Philippine Employment Situation: 2001-032/
For the period 2001-03, the Philippines received its share ofdebilitating events both local and international. In the local front,
widespread poverty, high unemployment and underemployment, weakexternal demand, threats of terrorists attacks, political scandals andcoup attempts continued to pervade the Philippine society. Meanwhile,
the 11 September 2001 tragedy, global recession, Iraq war and the SARs
epidemic have likewise done its share of damages. Despite of these, thePhilippine economy (GDP) was able to grow at a modest rate of 4.0
percent during the period.
The growth, however, did not usher ample employment
opportunities. In fact, for the last three years, unemployment rate
remained at 11.4 percent.
Labor Force. The country’s labor force for the period 2001-03 has
expanded by 5.34 percent or roughly 1.752 million, increasing from32.808 million in 2001 to 34.560 million in 2003.
Employment.
During the three-year period, the annual
employment growth rates were on a downtrend – from 6.2 percent in2001, it went down to 3.1 percent in 2002, and down further to 1.9
percent in 2003. The rise and fall in employment were observed to beclosely tied to the fluctuation in agricultural employment.
In terms of level, employment generally increased from 29.157
million in 2001 to 30.628 million in 2003. This corresponds to anannual average growth rate of 3.7 percent or an annual increment of
1.058 million a year. Considering that the labor force has been growing
at an annual rate of 3.8 percent or 1.207 million each year, this is barely/ A substantial portion of the write-up was culled from the report on“The Resilient
Filipino Worker Amid Difficulties (Labor and Employment Report Under the Arroyo
Administration)” prepared by the Institute for Labor Studies, March 2004.
2

4

sufficient to employ new entrants on top of the existing pool of
unemployed.
By demographic characteristics, nearly two-thirds of theemployed are male (61.2%), and majority of the workforce belongs to age
group 25-54 years old. Moreover, a sizeable chunk of the employed had
at least attended high school or reached college (60.7%).
The service sector remained at the helm, accounting for 47
percent of the total employment, and has been growing at a rate of 4.3
percent. Because of the ease of entry in the sector, it has served as acatch basin for those who cannot find employment elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the combined agriculture, fishery and forestry sector
constituted 37 percent of the overall employment.
Industrial
employment, on the other hand, continued to stagnate as its employment
share was standstill at 15-16 percent.
Employment in the Philippines is largely labor-supply driven as
persons who cannot find jobs in the formal labor market ends up creating
their own employment.
This explains the considerable share ofown-account (37.6%) and unpaid family (12.9%) workers. Meanwhile,
wage employment accounted close to 50 percent of overall employment.
By hours of work, part-time employment has been growing at a
rate of 6.7 percent yearly compared to a slower rate of growth of full-time
employment (2.2%). The significant changes in the production structure
in recent years have to a large extent altered the employment
arrangements paving for the proliferation of flexible forms of employment.
This phenomenon has partly contributed to the growth of part-time
employment.
By occupational desegregation, nearly one-third (29.7%) of thetotal employed were laborers and unskilled workers followed by farmers,
forestry workers and fishermen (21%), trade and related workers (10%),
civil servants (10.4%), service workers and shop and sales workers(9.2%), plant and machine operators and assemblers (7.6%), and5

professionals and technicians and associate professionals (7.2%).
Underemployment.
Underemployment is considered a more
serious problem than unemployment in the Philippines since it cuts
across age groups, and its magnitude is twice as that of unemployment.
For the last three years, underemployment rate was almost in a standstillof 17 percent. In absolute terms, however, it registered an increase of
200,000, from 5.0 million in 2001 to 5.2 million in 2003.
Underemployment in the Philippines is more of a rural phenomenon.
Unemployment.
The high trend in the incidence of
unemployment can be attributed to the faster growth of the labor forcevis-à-vis growth in employment opportunities. For the last three years,
the rate of unemployment remained at a double-digit level – 11.2 percent
in 2001, 11.4 percent in 2002, and 11.4 percent in 2003.
The unemployed were mostly male comprising slightly more than
one-half of total unemployed (59.4%). Meanwhile, unemployment in thePhilippines is more of an urban phenomenon – roughly two in every threeunemployed were urban residents.
It also largely a problem of young unskilled and inexperiencedlabor force. The youth3/ (48.7%) accounts for almost half of the total
unemployed. Their rate is the highest across age groups, and is morethan twice the national unemployment rate (23.8% vs. 11.1% in 2001,
22.9% vs. 11.4% in 2002, and 23.3% vs. 11.4% in 2003). Most of themwere school leavers.
Majority of the unemployed were relatively
educated mostly comprised of those who have at least high school(42.7%) and college education (34.3%).
This trend affirmed thepersistence of “educated unemployed.”Moreover, only one-third of the unemployed actively looked forwork while the remaining two-thirds did not look for work due to various
reasons such as the belief that no work was available, ill/sick, bad

3/

Defined in this report as persons 15-24 years old.
6

weather, waiting for job recall, to mention some.
Overseas Employment. A major component of the Philippine
employment program is overseas employment. For the past three years,
an annual average of 875,000 Filipino workers were deployed to work
abroad. Almost a quarter of them were sea-based.
The evidence of skills mismatch can therefore be observed
through the existence of a large number of “educated unemployed” andthe widespread dissatisfaction among employed workers as indicated by
the double-digit underemployment rate.
The large population ofFilipinos working abroad, on the other hand, mirrors both the lack anddiminishing quality of employment opportunities in the country.
The Philippine
Unemployment

PESOs:

An

Employment

StrategytoCurbAddressing the unemployment and underemployment problems
have been a topmost priority of the Philippine government. The Medium
Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2001-04 gives special
cognizance to this concern with the inclusion of an employment chapter
entitled “Promoting Full, Decent and Productive Employment.” Thedevelopment plan espouses four (4) major strategies, namely, programsin support of employment generation, employment preservation,
employment enhancement and employment facilitation.
Measures under the employment facilitation strategy essentially
focus on the activities of public employment service office or PESO which
include job solicitation, referrals, and placement; provision of career
counseling or guidance; and administration of government-funded
employment programs.
A Briefer on PESO. During the mid-80’s, the BLE developed theconcept of community employment centers (CECs) lodged in cities andkey municipalities. The CECs were envisioned as “a mini-employment
exchange centers” that provide four (4) service components, namely, (1)7job assistance, (2) recruitment and technical advisory services, (3)maintenance and operation of labor market information system, and (4)information exchange and dissemination. The CECs were manned byonly four (4) staff, one staff for each component.
In response to the economic crisis in the early 90’s, an attempt
was made to strengthen the CECs which were later on renamed as Public
Employment Service Office. The Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG) helped in the propagation of PESO by issuing DILG
Memo Circular No. 94-96 instructing all local government units’ (LGUs)
executives to establish, operate and maintain PESO in their respective
areas jurisdiction.
Even schools and non-governmental organizations(NGOs) located in strategic areas were encouraged to operate their own
PESOs.
The active campaign of DOLE and DILG resulted into dramaticincrease in the number of PESO. By December 1997, the number of
PESOs reached 1,635, of which 1,579 were LGU-based and 56 were
NGO/school-based. Almost all provinces, cities and big municipalities
adopted the PESO Program. As of June 1998, the number of job
applicants registered through PESOs totalled 2,382,366 while thenumber of applicants placed reached 1,521,284 or 64 percent placementrate.
The progress made by the PESO elicited a call for its“institutionalization,” recognizing it as the implementing arm of the
National Facilitation Service Network (NFSN), allocation of regular budget,and full professionalization of the operations of the PESO at the LGUlevel.
The clamor was finally heeded with the passage of RA 8759 or “AnAct Institutionalizing a National Facilitation Service Network Through the
Establishment of PESO In Every Province, Key City and Other Strategic
Areas Throughout the Country.”
Functions of PESOs.

The main functions of PESOs as

stipulated in Section 5 of the law are as follow:

8¾ encourage employers to submit on a regular basis a list of job
vacancies;¾ develop testing and evaluation instruments for effective job selection,
training and counseling;¾ provide persons with entrepreneurship qualities access to livelihoodand self-employment programs;¾ undertake employability enhancement trainings/seminars for job
seekers;¾ provide employment or occupational counseling, career guidance,mass motivation and values development;¾ conduct pre-employment counseling and orientation to both local andoverseas workers;¾ provide reintegration assistance services to returning Filipino migrant
workers, and¾ perform other related functions.
In addition, the law mandates the PESO to administer employment
government programs (Section 6). Based on the foregoing, the PESO has
ample tasks to perform.
Structure and management of PESOs. The operation of andmaintenance of a PESO program is managed by the local government.
The Department, on the other hand, through its EPDs in the regional
offices monitor and supervise the performance and programs of PESOs as
well as provide them with technical assistance in report generations,inter-agency coordination, among others.
Cursory Assessment of PESOs Performance. To date, thevision of creating a nationwide chain of PESOs has been realized.
In terms of utility, not all of them are active or functional PESOs or
those who makes regular reporting to the Department on registration ofjob seekers, listing of jobs solicited, referral of job seeker, placement ofworkers, facilitation of government employment programs’ beneficiaries,
to mention some. Based on cursory assessments and small-scale
surveys conducted, such “inactivity” can be attributed to several factors

9such as lack or absence of funding, lack of personnel, ill-equipped PESO
office, absence of management support, and local labor market is simply
too weak.
In terms of performance, recent statistics showed that in 2003,
around 1.234 million workers registered in PESOs accounting for 30
percent of the total unemployed. Of those who registered, 837,903 wereplaced or a placement rate of 68 percent. The proportion of those who
were placed to total unemployed, on the other hand, was recorded at 21.3
percent. Latest administrative report4/ from the BLE indicates that a
sizeable chunk of those who were placed were those who availed of theregular employment government programs. Though the figures is quite
sizeable, the number can only accommodate at least 65 percent of the
new/re-entrants to the labor force.
In terms of occupational distribution of applicants, a BLE study
showed that majority are unskilled workers (33%), followed by clerical
workers (14.9%) and sales workers (14.8%). Based on related literature,most of the jobseekers who go to PESOs are young and unemployedworkers with high school education and some years of college education.
They also end up as semi-skilled workers doing peripheral or repetitive
jobs, and having short-term employment contracts and rarely“regularized”.
One of the services provided by PESOs is job search throughinternet known as PhilJobNet, an automated or online job and applicant
matching system. However, access to the facility is limited by difficultyof accessing and downloading data, breakdown connections, and added
cost for the LGU paying monthly fees for ISP servers. Moreover, a local
study noted that if the type of workers needed are casual, companies do
not log in on the internet neither are the workers due to lack of computer
literacy and budget for logging in.
Prior to 1999, the utilization level of PESO was quite low.

4/

As of 24 February 2004.
10

However, the trend was gradually reversed given the increasing numberof job seekers who flocked to PESO as indicated by the results of theLabor Force Survey (LFS) for the period 1990-2003.
Number of Unemployed Persons (Actively Looking) by Job Search Methods(in thousands)
1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2001

2002

2003

Private

33

27

29

26

30

46

37

57

61

Public

86

92

111

83

107

141

160

179

176

DE

290

307

308

272

324

374

432

479

449

F&R

288

335

311

280

332

413

449

435

429

Adds

62

71

71

67

80

95

117

99

101

Others

9

8

8

8

8

10

13

14

16

DE = Directly Approached Employer;

F&R = Friends & Relatives

Source: National Statistics Office

However, its proportion compared to those who “approached employers
directly” and who “approached relatives and friends” are still somehow
low. The trend implies two observations: (1) that PESO is gaining
ground as an avenue of job search; and (1) but there is still a need toscale-up the public information drive on its existence and services.
Since its institutionalization, the program did not undergo athorough evaluation. However, in the light of persisting high incidenceof unemployment in the country, policymakers believed that theconsiderable improvement in the delivery of employment facilitation
services with PESOs as a major instrument would make a significant
difference in addressing such concern.
Hence, there are current
attempts to improve the services of the PESOs particularly on its job
placement and counseling services. One major activity in the offing is
the plan to conduct a national assessment of the PESOs which will serveas the basis for developing new measures to improve its delivery ofservices as well as its internal operations.

11Section III
For the period 1980-90, Japan’s unemployment rate has been
consistently low averaging around 2.0 percent. However, its
unemployment rate made a turn-around during the late 90’s, reaching
4.1 percent in 1998 and 4.7 percent in 1999, and worsened insucceeding years (2000-03) as it went up as high as 5.5 percent. The
grim employment situation can be attributed to the sluggish growth ofJapan’s economy, persistence of skills mismatch and changing responseof businesses to personal needs.5
According to the Labor Situation 2002-03 Report, the incidenceof mismatch has escalated due to relatively low level of specialized
vocational ability of large number of job seekers as well as increases in
the number of young workers who keep changing jobs, and middle-aged
and older workers with high salary requirements. On the other hand,companies have been compelled to reduce their number of hires, trim
down their long-term permanent employee composition, and in turn, relyon part-time and dispatched workers to keep labor costs down. Hence,
an uptrend in the number of part-time and dispatched workers can beobserved.
The Public Employment Security Office in Japan played a majorrole in mitigating the incidence of unemployed through its various
employment services notably job placement, career counseling andvocational guidance.
A Closer Look at Japan’s Public Employment Security Office(JPESOs)The Employment Security Law (ESL) clearly established thecritical role of JPESOs in enhancing the country’s labor market
operations. The ESL referred to JPESOs “as agencies that perform
necessary services and serve the public free of charge for the purpose of5/

Japan Institute of Labor. The Labor Situation in Japan 2002-03.
Section 5. pp. 19-20

Chapter II

12conducting employment placement, vocational guidance, employment
insurance and other necessary matters” (Art.8).
JPESOs were created to facilitate the employment of jobseekers
with suitable job opportunities, and respond to the manpower
requirements of the employers by introducing to them job seekers
imbued with right set of skills. In the process, addresses the problem ofmismatch of skills which have been contributing in Japan’s increasing
number of unemployed.
Since its enactment into law in 1947, the ESL undergo a numberof amendments in the Japanese government’s bid to improve thecountry’s labor market situation. These moves included ensuring theefficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of employment services,
continuous strengthening of the JPESOs as a prime precursor of
facilitating employment opportunities, and deregulating employment
placement/recruitment services.
Aside from the ESL, the Employment Measures Law also
recognized the role of JPESOs in realizing the twin goals of (1) effecting abalanced development of the national economy, and (2) in achieving full
employment (Art.1) by providing a wide range of assistance and options tojob seekers to facilitate employment (Art. 4).
Supervision of JPESOs. As provided in the ESL, JPESOs areaccountable to two offices, namely, the Employment Security Main
Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), and thePrefectural Labour Office.
The responsibilities of each offices are specifically stipulated in
Articles 6-8. In a nutshell, the Employment Security Main Bureau’stasks entail the formulation of policies and development of programs in
relation to employment security. The Prefectural Labour Office, on theother hand, are tasked to ensure that these policies and programs arecarried out by coordinating these to JPESOs. Meanwhile, the JPESOs
serve as the implementing arm or the entities in charge of discharging the13employment programs.

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare(Employment Security Main Bureau)

Prefectural Labour OfficePublic Employment Security Offices

The Prefectural Labor Office are tasked to supervise and monitor
the activities of the JPESOs. The JPESOs, on the other hand, submit its
accomplishment report and budgetary requirements, and discusses its
special concerns/requests and proposals, if there are any, to thePrefectural Labor Office. The Prefectural Labor Office, in turn, study
and make recommendations, and forward these concerns to the Ministry.
The Employment Security Main Bureau of the Ministry will study theconcerns, proposals and then make recommendations for theconsideration/approval of the Minister. Whatever the outcome of theprocess, this will be transmitted down to the Prefectural Labor Office andthen to JPESOs.
Functions/Services. To date, there are about 480 harowa
offices, 109 branch offices and 28 supplementary offices all over Japan.
These offices provide a wide range of services categorized into three (3)major services, namely, (1) job introduction/placement, (2)administering employment insurance transactions (applicability andpayment), and (3) employment management services.
Aside from the JPESOs, there also exist other institutions
augmenting the services of JPESOs, and are operating under thesupervision of the JPESOs.
These include the Bank of Human
Resources (26), Part-Time Job Bank (97) and Part-Time Job Satellites(117), Hello Work to Support Combining Work and Family (12), Hello

14

Work Information Plaza (47), and Comprehensive Employment Support
Centers and Counseling Rooms for Students (47).6
These institutions provide services that caters to the needs ofspecific groups of workers to enable them to get a job. For instance, theBank of Human Resources extend job consultation and information,
among others, to administrative, professional and technical workers
while Part-time Job Banks specifically attend to the employment needs ofpart-time workers.
In terms of staff employed, the JPESOs is the government’s mostimportant instrument for implementing labor market policy. It typicallyaccounts for more than half the central government payroll within thelabor ministry. It size reflects its role of handling unemployed workers
and vacant jobs on an individual basis.7
To date, the network of JPESOs have approximately 20,000
personnel. Of the total, around 2,500 staff dealt directly with job
seekers and employers.8 A big JPESO has 300 staff while a regular
JPESO has 30 staff.
Half of the personnel deals with generaladministration which covers evaluation of job seekers eligibility for
unemployment benefits (applicability and payment), and awarding ofsubsidies/allowances/incentives, and the other half provides job
placement and counseling. A small JPESOs has five (5) staff. Given thelarge volume of job seekers and employers who seek the assistance of
JPESOs, part-time workers are hired to augment the services provided
to its clients.
Each prefecture has its own JPESO, the number, however, varies
depending on the volume of job seekers and labor situation in theprefecture.
Tokyo-ken, for instance, due to its large number of/ Japan Institute of Labor. The Labor Situation in Japan 2002-03. Chapter V
Section 3. p. 68
7 / The Public Employment Service in Japan, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.
OECD Paper
8 / 2002 and 2003 World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES) Survey;
Administrative Statistics published by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
6

15

jobseekers and high concentration of economic activities has 15 JPESOs.
Central Tokyo in particular has 74,000 companies which accounts for 10
percent of the total companies located in Tokyo and has 900,000
workers.9
Employment Placement Services and Performance.
The
employment placement service of JPESOs essentially covers job
matching, provision of information to both job seekers as to list of job
vacancies available and to employers on the volume and quality ofjobseekers, conduct of vocational guidance and aptitude test, andadministration of government-sponsored employment programs directedto specific group of workers (e.g., elderly, handicapped, part-time workers,
graduates, etc.,) including payment of subsidies and allowances.
According to key informants from a research institute, recent
statistics showed that on the monthly average, around 4.7 million10 job
seekers sought the assistance of JPESOs. Job seekers usually come to
JPESOs once or twice a month to avail of its various assistance. They
also revealed that roughly 20 percent of the job seekers secured a job
through job listings and government-sponsored employed programs
managed by JPESOs while the remaining 80 percent through private
employment agencies, job adds in newspaper/magazines, friends, andrelatives.
The evolving external and internal economic restructuring areindeed taking its toll on the Japanese labor market. Based on theReport on Employment Service, job vacancy opening rates has been
declining over time, from 2.07 percent in 1990 it went down to 1.05
percent in 2000. Similar trend can likewise be observed on placement
rates, from 8.8 percent in 1990 to 6.2 percent in 2000.
The period of job search also varies across groups of workers.
Thirty percent of job seekers have to wait for one (1) year to find a job

10 /The figures cover those who seek unemployment benefits and employer
management services.
16while those in need of immediate employment have shorter job search
duration covering only 2-3 months. Old workers and those who do notpossess specific skills usually young workers have a hard time finding
jobs or being re-employed in the case of the former. The aforecitedgroups of workers comprised the bulk of workers who seek the assistanceof JPESOs. For the past 10 years, the number of job offerings to young
workers have been declining.
The results of the Recruit Survey showed that application ratio(willingness to work) of college graduates used to be more than 2 ascompared to 1.3. This means that college graduate sends application forwork once. The ratio is even lower among senior high school students
which is less than one. This downtrend can be attributed to several
factors such as (1) employers prefer to hire workers with work experience,(2) young workers have shown less willingness to work as evidenced byincreasing number of “freeters”, and (3) increasing number of young
people neither going to school nor working called “neit.”
Features of Employment Placement Services. In recent years,
the Japanese government through its auspice the Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare has channeled enormous efforts and resources toenhance the delivery of its employment services and programs lodged in
the PESOs in its bid to curb the increasing incidence of unemployment.
Aside from employing traditional employment facilitation approaches, theMinistry has extensively explored the use of as well as enhance access tointernet and mobile phones to fast track job search and placement.
Information on job seekers and employers can be both accessed throughthe internet and mobile phones.
Comprehensive database on jobseekers and employers. However,limited information such as name of the company, location and wages
can only be obtained from these devices. In order to get a detailed
information on job vacancies, the person should visit and register to a
Hello Work Information Plaza, and logged in to the website. The person
will be provided with registration number which he/she has to use as
reference number or as a password to proceed with succeeding steps.

17

These entail getting the following information:
 listing of job vacancies by occupation, by industry;
 number of job vacancies by occupation;
 name, address, telephone numbers, email address, andnature of business of the company; location map skills requirements/qualifications for the job
 wages working days holidays
 working hours
 insurance/benefits/allowances age preference
Employers who registered in the JPESOs have to disclose criticalinformation pertaining to their manpower demand, and terms andconditions of work.
Job seekers, likewise, are encouraged to be transparent in giving
information about themselves, their level of skills and qualifications(educational attainment, trainings, and work experience), and the terms
and conditions of work they are interested to apply.
Vocational guidance/career counseling. To improve their chancesof being employed, counseling services such as how to prepare
curriculum vitaes, and how to behave during interviews were provided tojob seekers especially to first-timers or newly graduates or to those whohave been unemployed for quite a long time. More importantly, career
counselors also assessed the skills and qualifications of the job seekers in
relation to a particular job they are interested to apply. Afterwards, if
the applicant is found to be suitable for the job, the staff arranged for ascheduled interview. Recommendation letter was also given to theapplicant.
If the applicant’s level of skills and qualifications are found to be18

wanting for the job, the person will be advise to look for other job
vacancies that match her/his skills if the person needs immediate
employment or to be trained on the areas he/she is found to be lacking ofas required by the job.
User –friendly job search devices. Employers can also browse on
information pertaining to the kind of job seekers they need as well as
coordinate with JPESOs for scheduled interviews with potential
applicants. In fact, the use of internet for recruitment has been gaining
grounds. According to the 2001 Survey on Employment Management
conducted by the MHLW, firms with large number of employees usedinternet for recruitment. Nearly 95 percent of firms with 5,000 or more
employees used internet for recruitment while 79.2 percent of firms
employing 1,000-4,999 workers, 52.9 percent of firms with 300-999
workers, and 25.5% of firms with 100-299 workers. These firms favoredthe used of internet for the following reasons: for correspondence withapplicants, receive requests for company brochures, answering queries
from applicants, rescheduling interviews, contacting successful
candidates, receiving application forms, 24-hour availability andsimplifying recruitment activities and cutting costs.
Co-sharing of information structure. Another unique feature of
the Job Information Network is the job vacany entries of private
recruitment agencies (PRAs). This enables job seekers a wide range ofoptions. In order to post their job listing in the Network managed by
JPESOs, PRAs are required to fill up and submit a form in order to securea permit from the Ministry to operate. Activities of PRAs are governed by
Articles 30-32 (1-15) of the Employment Security Law.
Incentives and subsidies. The unemployed who are on training,businesses in “distress,” companies which support government programs
such as employment of disabled, old workers, and student trainees, andcompanies who enrolled in government programs are afforded withallowances and subsidies 11 to facilitate the employment of the/ Government policies dealing with unemployment have so far focused on granting
subsidies to already existing firms to encourage them to hire unemployed workers.
1119

unemployed, and for those businesses to stay on board, avoid dismissing
workers albeit maintaining their stock of workers or hire more workers.
Reforms to Strengthen Employment Placement Services.
Due to the alarming incidence of unemployment rate in recent times, andincreasing competition from private recruitment agencies as a result of aderegulation measure12 in 1999, there were a series of moves to further
re-strengthen the JPESOs’ job information service.13 In April 2003, the
MHLW began publishing the names and telephone numbers ofcompanies14 with 70,000 job offerings in the internet, and which canalso be accessed through mobile phones. This action does not warrant
the job seekers to personally go to the JPESOs to obtain such information.
This, in the process, has streamlined the number of job seekers which the
JPESOs staff have to service in terms of employment placement. The
resultant increase in unemployment has made it difficult to individually
and adequately attend to the job seekers needs. Second, MHLW hired 94
advisors, stationed 500 full-time “job searching navigators” (help workers
who had lost their jobs due to company measures on dealing with badloans), and 1,000 promoters (help individual job seekers find suitable
advertisement). In addition to that, the Ministry in 2001 launched aplan to create 50,000 career development advisors15 within five years
within the public and private sectors.16
Moreover, the information provided by the JPESOs on the “Job
However, new measures have been launched to which aim to create new jobs bypromoting new business start-ups. The new subsidy measures can be classified into
three categories according to their purpose: (1) subsidies to reduce the number of overall
unemployed people; (2) subsidies to improve the employment situation in a particulararea or region; and (3) emergency subsidies to prevent an increase in unemployment
resulting from the disposal of bad loans.
12 / The deregulation measure allows private recruitment agencies (PRAs) in principle
to freely participate in the job introduction business.
13 / Japan Labor Bulletin, April 2003
14 This measure applies only to companies which agree to such measure or for theirname to be published..
15 / A career development advisor is a specialist who assists his/her clients in finding
jobs that will satisfy them. The advisor together with his/her client establishes atarget, and the advisor helps them improve their vocational skills. As of April 2003,
there are about 1,200 qualified career development advisors.
16 / Japan Labor Bulletin, April 2003
20

Information Network” which previously covered only major cities has
been expanded nationwide. The Job Information Network is an internet
job information service jointly supported by government and private
sectors (3,791 participating organizations with 490,000 job listings).
However, these information can also be accessed via mobile phones.17
Employment Support Centers for Urban Areas particularly inTokyo and Kansai areas were established to provide vocationalcounseling and job placement. Meanwhile, some JPESOS in designatedmajor cities have been rendering extended working hours during
weekdays and weekends to accommodate and provide assistance to those
who are seeking jobs. On the other hand, to enhance its counselingservices, some 800 employment assistance counselors and skill
development assistance have been deployed in JPESOs. In 2002 alone,around 611,146 people were counseled while as of January 2003, newemployment opportunities for 206,928 people were facilitated by
JPESOs.
It is also worth mentioning the collaborative work of JPESOs andeducational institutions in ensuring the employment of the students andthe graduates. One area of collaboration is the provision of counselingservice to students and graduates.
Both PESO staff and career
specialists from universities and colleges extend such service. Article27-2 of the Employment Security Law allows heads of schools toundertake part of the functions of the JPESOs. These include conductof vocational guidance, and guidance after placement, among others.
The Shinjuku Hello Work Office: A Showcase ofBest PracticeThe Shinjuku PESO and its ancillary offices located at thebustling heart of Tokyo are epitomes of well-manage, advance andefficient PESOs. It is considered as the 5th biggest PESO in Japan andranked 2nd in terms of performance.

/ Ohtake, F. Structural Unemployment Measures in Japan.
Vol. 1 Nos.2 Spring 2004

17

Japan Labor Review.

21

Well-trained staff and user-friendly technology. The Shinjuku
offices are equipped with cutting-edge but user-friendly technology andwell-trained staff that facilitate efficient and effective discharge of
employment services.
A total of 139 staff manned the Shinjuku PESO
and its ancillary offices.
Like any public servants, PESO staff are required to pass the civil
service eligibility examination to gain entrance to government service.
However, once they are hired as PESO staff, they undergo several
trainings which depend on their number of years of service. The Labour
College being managed by the Japan Institute for Labor Policy andTraining (JILPT) conducts trainings to the staff in the areas of labor laws
and regulations, and counseling.
University professors specializing incareer counseling are also invited to provide 3-day training for the staff.
The training is conducted once a year and focuses on case studies.
Based on a comparative study of public employment service
among selected OECD countries, Japan “by any measure of vacancies
and placements, had the greatest workload per staff member.” The
Shinjuku case depicts such situation. In a day, a staff responsible forjob matching has to service 15-16 persons while counseling services isprovided to 8 applicants. The time devoted to counseling varies,
depending on the group and needs of the worker. For instance, young
workers, handicapped and older workers usually need in-depth interview
and counseling. Meanwhile, to augment its counseling services, 100
part-time specialists/counselors are to be hired.
The Shinjuku PESO are equipped with 150 touch-panel typeterminals which can retrieve information on job openings. A job seeker
can easily access job information stored in the computer and proceedwith the job search process by simply following the simple instructions
posted in the monitor as well as in the guide boards/bulletins attached tocomputer.
Owing to its large number of job seekers, the Shinjuku PESO
working hours have been extended. The office is open from 8:30am until

227:00pm on weekdays, and from 10:00am to 5:00pm on Saturdays.
“Different folks, different strokes.” Aside from the regularservices, it has special services counters that cater to the needs andconditions (e.g., new graduates, elderly, handicapped, in immediate needof employment, etc.,)
and occupational category (e.g., clerical,
sales/marketing, professional, technical, engineers, technicians,
construction workers, etc.,) of job seekers of the jobseekers. It also
accommodates one on one consultation/advice with job seekers. The
Office also dealt with the psychological effects brought about by losing
one’s job through counseling. It is important to note that not all
JPESOs provide comprehensive services.
Foreign Workers’ Employment Service Office.
Another
unique feature of Shinjuku PESO is the presence of a Foreign Workers
Employment Service Office which provides employment placement
services to exchange students and non-japanese workers looking for jobs.
This kind of office is only available in Shinjuku and Roppongi in Tokyo
prefecture, and in Osaka prefecture. Foreign workers can access theseinformation through the internet but have to visit the Office to obtain amore detailed information as well as to avail of the other services such as
employment guidance and counseling. To help those who are notarticulate with Nihonggo, the Office has part-time interpreters adept inEnglish, Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish. Most of the jobs available
are part-time employment. In terms of occupations highly demanded, IT
engineers topped the list followed by those engaged in trading, andinterpreters and translators.18
Employment Placement Performance. To ensure the flow of
job opportunities in the area, PESO staff diligently solicit job vacancies
from the companies not only through internet but also by visiting theestablishments.
In March 2004 alone, around 12,000 job vacancies were solicited18/ Japan Labor Bulletin, June 200323

from the companies, 3,000 or 25 percent of which are obtained byestablishing direct/personal contact with the companies. On the same
period, around 1,500 people received job offers.
Everyday, the Shinjuku PESO accommodates an average of 3,000
job seekers while receives an average of 300 to 400 job vacancies from
1,000 companies. Even during bad times, companies has at least one
job vacancy. The ratio of job offerings per person is said to be higher inShinjuku as it even surpassed that of Tokyo and the national rate. In
Tokyo, the ratio is 1.07 and 0.77 in Japan while in Shinjuku, its 1.6 perperson. It simply means that in Shinjuku, almost two job vacancies areoffered to a person, and only 1 in Tokyo per person.
In a month, the Shinjuku PESO receives an average of 6,300 job
offerings, and places about 1,400 job seekers. Job placement in thearea has increased by 30 percent. But while the quantity of jobs offerings
are increasing, the quality is said to be diminishing. Despite the large
number of job offerings, less than 10 percent of jobs offerings are
accepted by job seekers. This is because many job seekers prefer job
vacancies from famous companies as getting employment from suchcompany is equated by job seekers as having good working conditions,and more stable. In fact, one job vacancy from a famous company would
be flooded with job applications. In contrast, a not so famous company
who have 10 or more job offerings only received a few job applications
even if the terms and conditions of job offers are relatively good.
JPESOs Co-Existence With Other “Players”
There is a popular belief that employment services are statemonopoly with the passage of ESL. However, this belief no longer holdswith the prevalence of private employment placement agencies, and given
the deregulation drives undertaken in recent years. In Japan, thefollowing employment services are open to job seekers:
Free employment services (schools, colleges, universities: but haveto register with the MHLW; other organizations: have to get a license

24

from the MHLW);
Fee-charging employment services (general placement agencies,
executive search agencies; outplacement agencies)
Worker dispatching business;
Advertisements, magazines specializing in recruitment.
Aside from the aforecited, job seekers also sought the assistanceof their friends/acquaintances, relatives/members of the family, andprevious employers in seeking jobs.
The ESL governs the operations of both free, and fee-charging
employment services while the Worker Dispatching Law provides thescope of operations of dispatched workers.
Private employment placement agencies and dispatch work
agencies indeed play vital roles in augmenting the employment
placement services in Japan. The deregulation of employment
placement and the expansion in the coverage of dispatched work were
triggered by various factors, namely, deregulation drives, international
trends and adoption of ILO Convention 181, high unemployment rate,and structural changes to the Japanase labor market which necessitate
a new form of safety net.19
The revision of ESL in 1999 has placed private placement services
as a coexisting player with JPESOs.20 This move was welcomed byeconomic circles in Japan who have been clamoring for such reform.
On the other hand, this move implies the cognizance of JPESOs’
inadequacy in providing employment placement services to a growing
number of job seekers who have peculiar needs.
In a country study on Japan by ILO (1998), JPESOs areobserved to play a smaller role particularly in terms of providing job
placement to white-collar jobs but are said to be more helpful toblue-collar, part-time and casual workers. The study further noted that
19
20

/
/

Japan Labor Bulletin, September 1999
Ibid.
25

job applicants, including white-collar applicants visit the JPESO to get
unemployment insurance benefits. This claim is somehow affirmed bya key informant from the JPESO who admitted that workers in highranking positions prefer the services of private placement or
head-hunting agencies in helping them find a job. They favor theservices of private placement agencies due to their thoroughness infinding them a job that would really match their skills. Meanwhile, aprivate placement agency insider noted that it will not be cost-efficient
for a company to hire the services of placement agency for blue-collar
vacancies. Companies wanting the services of blue-collar workers
usually course their adds through JPESOs or dispatching services.
JPESOs viewed private employment agencies as competitor andvice-versa. Competition has been the driving force for both entity inimproving the efficacy of delivering their services. The presence of thisfactor is one reason on the current efforts to re-strengthen thejob-matching role of JPESOs.21
In like manner, a key informant from the private sector reaffirmed
this belief – regarding JPESOs as a stiff competitor. He believed that
JPESOs has more mileage in terms of infrastructure and information, as
time-old and highly-regarded institution, a free-service facility, and afinancially-strong institution (e.g., enjoys government support).
However, he contends that private employment placement agencies
strong points are its being flexible, resourceful, and specialized andcomprehensive “individualized” services (i.e., they cater to specific needsof individuals). But inspite of these, only one-tenth (1/10) of the job
seekers avail of their services. As such, he felt that it is imperative thatthey should work on increasing the level of awareness of job seekers on
their existence and the “personalized” services they provide.
He aptly
described the strengths and weaknesses of each other as “the strengthsof the other is our weaknesses, and vice-versa.”
To further advance the welfare of the of the job seekers,

21/

there areJapan Labor Bulletin, April 2003.
26

moves to integrate the placement services of JPESO and private
employment agencies. In the case of Tokyo where job seekers abound,
JPESOs and private employment agencies staff shared one office. In
addition, they shared one website known as Hataraku network where
both offices post their listing of job vacancies.
Another attempt to combine the services of JPESOs and private
employment agencies is the establishment of a Job Café, a one-stop
shop and free of charge employment facility for young workers.
The
Job Café Program which will kick-off in October 2004 in Tokyo shallprovide the administration of aptitude test, job placement services, andintroduction to vocational training.
A private sector sector key informant revealed that placement
agencies are having regular meetings with the Shibuya PESO in order toknow the activities of each other. He imitated that they are planning toestablish a “community center” – an employment facility that will lookafter the graduates, part-time workers and those people who keep onchanging jobs.
The coexistence of JPESOs and private employment agencies,
however, are not as smooth as it seems. For instance, JPESO andprivate employment agencies are sharing one website (hataraku). This,
however, requires disclosure of name and telephone numbers ofcompanies posting their job vacancies. Private employment agencies
revealed some reservations on this part since they viewed it as a ploy to
put them out of business. They argued that job seekers will directly
contact the companies without purchasing job information magazines
or consulting offices or agencies. They also asserted that this defeats
the purpose of integrating the private sector in the overall system.22 An
interview with a key informant from the private employment agency,
however, revealed that this issue has been resolved by adopting somemeasures. For instance, most companies nowadays post their job
vacancies in the website and at the same time, hire the services of

22/Japan Labor Bulletin, March 200127

placement agencies to do the screening and interviews of applicants. If
the job seeker applied directly to the company, he/she will be referredback to the private employment agency for screening and interview. As
to the information posted on the Hataraku, some are withheld and are
only disclosed if the job seeker is found to be suited to the job.

28

Section IV
Some Insights/Lessons from JPESOs Experience in Employment
Placement Services and Proposed Areas for Exploratory Study
This section attempts to highlight some key features of JPESO
employment services which the Philippines can feasibly adopt in its plan
to improve its own network of PESOs given the country’s condition andlimited resources.
The report ends up by presenting proposed areas for possible
exploratory study which the author gathered during the course of theinterviews.
A.

Insights/Lessons from JPESOs Experience

Improvement in the software and hardware of job search devices.
The JPESOs is indeed a showcase of cutting-edge technology yet
user-friendly job search devices particularly in the case of the Shinjuku
PESO and its ancillary offices. This is one critical area which the PPESO
administration particularly the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) of thePhilippine Department of Labor and Employment (PhilDOLE) should
concentrate on establishing. The PPESO already provides automatedjob matching services through the internet known as PhilJobNet.
However, the current system does not really provide “job-matching”
service albeit only a listing of job vacancies. Moreover, because of thelimited number of terminals available for job seekers, only a limited
number of job seekers can browse the computers simultaneously.
Speed of access is also another problem. The PPESO can also adopt thesimple guide instructions in searching for job vacancies to ensure
efficient use of time as well as to guide job seekers who are not familiar
with its operations.
In terms of accessing job information via mobile phone, the
PPESO is already considering tapping such device to expand coverage ofjob seekers access to job information.

29

In a nutshell, the Philippine government should seriously embark
on investing on software and hardware job search devices to efficiently
and effectively facilitate job placement services.
Feedback Mechanism in Updating List of Job Vacancies. One of the
major drawbacks of the Philippine automated job matching device is theabsence of a feedback mechanism that would facilitate updating the list
and status of job vacancies posted in the website. In Japan’s case,
employers immediately inform the JPESOs if the job vacancy/ies they
have posted is already filled-up. The JPESO staff, in turn, deletes thefilled-up position in the list. This activity is being done regularly toprevent publication of wrong information, and to avoid inconvenience tojob seekers.
Job vacancy/ies also have life-span.
This means that a
particular job vacancy will be posted and viewed only for only a specificperiod. Finally, it also indicates whether the job vacancy is a new listingor “arrival.”Comprehensive Database on Job Seekers and Employers. Anothercritical feature of the job placement service of JPESOs is thecomprehensiveness of its database/information regarding the job seekers
and employers. This characteristic enables the JPESO staff to render job
matching service. Job seekers and employers can likewise embark on thisactivity on their own since the vital information they both need are
already indicated.
Proactive Job Solicitation and Placement of Job Seekers. Anotherbest practice which can be adopted from JPESOs are the diligence andproactive approach of its administrators and personnel in soliciting job
vacancies and placement of job seekers by taking advantage of possible
opportunities. This positive attitude can be observed regardless of thesize of JPESOs. These are best illustrated in the following:
9

Attendance in meetings where employers meet;

30

9
9

9
9
9
9

9

Coordinating with the Chamber of Commerce in the area;
Checking the employment certificates of those who got employedthrough the hello work office, i.e., it means that such company
may be needing more workers;
Regularly checking information on companies who have job
vacancies from labor market centers;
Closely coordinating and networking with adjacent prefectures
which are in need of workers;
Paying a visit to establishments;
Posting of “fresh” job vacancies on bulletin boards in the lobby of
JPESO and in so-called Public Recreation Center where young
workers usually converge for various recreation activities;
Conduct seminars re: how to fill-out CVs or prepare attractive CVs,
how to write job history, how to behave during interviews, among
others;Continuous Capability Building for PESO Staff. Aside from job
placement service, another critical activity of PESO is the provision ofcareer guidance and counseling service. It is imperative that staff
providing such service should be well-equipped to deal with the various
and peculiar needs of the job seekers. In JPESOs’ case, staff dispensing
vocational guidance/career counselors to job seekers are equipped with
the necessary skills and knowledge by undergoing a ladderized-type oftraining, from general to highly-specialized courses. As the number ofyears in service of staff progresses, the type and depth of training also
varies. A Labour College under the auspices of the MHLW, and being
managed by JILPT, provides the trainings.
In terms of job placement, school-based career guidancecounselors in the Philippines are encouraged to undertake proactive job
placement for their students. This is to ensure them of jobs after
graduation as well as to shorten the duration of their job search.
Administration and Supervision of PESOs. The ESL provides aclear-cut policy on the functions and responsibilities of JPESOs as wellas on the role of the MHLW and Prefectural Labor Office in relation to its

31

administration and supervision.
Strengthen Linkages with Educational Institutions, Employers
Group and Trade Unions. With educational institutions, by providingthem regular information on the state of labor market condition, andgovernment-employment program services which their students canaccess via PESOs.
With employers, to develop some kind of feedback mechanism to
update the list of job vacancies posted in the website as well as to fast
track exchange of information regarding the available pool of job seekers
and the manpower requirements of the establishments.
With trade unions, to provide the PESOs a registration of themember-workers who will be displaced due to economic restructuring
and to provide them with some kind of assistance through job referrals oraccess to government employment programs.
Service Counters for Large Groups of Unemployed. While this is avery ambitious goal given the country’s limited resources, this is worth
adopting. The provision of service counters that would cater for theneeds of specific groups of workers or those groups with high incidence of
unemployment is expected to usher positive developments. In thePhilippine case, unemployment is pronounced among the youth, andfemale workers.
Maintaining Professional Credibility of Staff. In a country where
corruption is rampant, the practice of rotating PESO staff or government
servants directly providing services to the public in general should be
adopted (e.g., every after 2-3 years of service). This is a preventive
measure to avoid being involved in such unscrupulous acts as well as toencourage flexibility in work assignments. Moreover, this is also aneffective means of allocating staff to PESOs that needs additional hands
given the large number of transactions being discharged.
Provision of Training Allowance for the Unemployed Who are on

32

Training. Aside from employment insurance, the administration ofsubsidies and allowances to both job seekers and employers is one of the
major functions of JPESOs as well as a major employment measure ofgovernment. While this is not feasible in the Philippine case given its
current state of development, it is recommended that at least training
allowance (for transportation and meals) be given to those who wererecently displaced (due to economic restructuring) and who are enrolled
in government-sponsored training programs to enable them finish theirtraining without dipping on their savings or resources.
Safeguarding Personal Information of Job Seekers. The revised
ESL of Japan takes stringent measures of safeguarding personal
information of job seekers. Similar precautionary measure should beundertaken by PPESO as it embarked on collecting personal information
on job seekers and employers.
Establishing PESO in Strategic Areas of the Country.
Asmentioned in the early part of the report, there are about 1,765 PPESOs
all over the Philippines. However, not all are actively performing theirfunctions. The reasons for these include the presence of small populaceof job seekers and limited economic activities in a particular area, its
establishment is politically-induced, its operation cannot be sustained
due to lack of funds, and its location is inaccessible to the public.
In Japan, each prefecture has its own PESO. However, it can be
more than one and have ancillary services depending on the labor
situation in the prefecture as in the case of Tokyo which has 15 JPESOs
given its large number of job seekers.

B.

Proposed Areas for Future Study/Action

Assessment (?).
Undoubtedly, Japan’s Public Employment
Security Office is one of those government offices saddled with heavy
workload especially in recent years given the country’s
unemployment rates which already reached 5.5 percent.

skyrocketing33

Because of the burgeoning mass of unemployed, the number ofjob seekers who flocked the JPESOs has increased. Based on the two
separate observation tours conducted to two JPESOs, a long queue of job
seekers await for their turn to be serviced.
In 1999, the government has allowed the deregulation of
employment placement activity to augment its existing measures ofarresting the alarming incidence of unemployment. While the numberof jobseekers who seek the assistance of JPESOs remain significant, thisdevelopment somehow implies a slack in the employment placement
service.
Based on a preliminary analysis and evaluation on the placement
function of JPESOs by Nakamura,23 it showed that the role of PESOs in
supporting career transitions during recession is undoubtedly significant,and its utilization rate is high especially among workers who are rated
relatively low in the labor market. However, it was observed that theefficiency of its job matching function has been declining due to“confusion”.
One reason for the decline might be the confusion
stemming from efforts to find job vacancies in response to increase in theunemployment, furnishing both applicants and employers detailed
information, and coping with the administering of subsidies andallowances.
.
Since its inception, no assessment has been conducted yet withregards to its services. The purpose of the evaluation, therefore, is to
identify specific services that could possibly be streamlined or what could
and still needs to be done to further strengthen and improve the deliveryof its services.
In connection with this, a private sector informant revealed that
JPESOs should refer more applicants to them given the large volume of/ Nakamura, Jiro (2002). “The Role of Public Employment Services: Preliminary
Assessment of the Japanese Experiment,” Japanese Journal of Labor Studies no. 506,
Tokyo Metropolitan University.
23

34

job seekers who register to JPESOs.
He qualified that given the large
volume of job seekers who flocked the JPESOs amid limited number ofstaff, it is most likely that the quality of job placement and counselingservices that JPESO staff provide, may not constantly at its best or
somehow diminishing. He reiterated that his statement is not intended
to undermine the capability of JPESOs which he greatly recognized as a“pillar” in extending employment placement service and which integrity ishighly regarded.
Meanwhile, a key informant from a JPESO proposed theestablishment of “cost accounting system” which shall be used a basis inallocating resources to JPESOs as well as in making a “precise” analysis
of its operations and in coming up with important decisions.
Improve and expand counseling services. A key informant fromthe JPESO admitted that despite the considerable work being allocated tocounseling service, this area still remain wanting in terms of number ofstaff and quality of consultations/advice provided to the job seekers.
On the other hand, a key informant from a training instituterevealed that capability build-up activities for JPESO staff arecontinuously being undertaken. Aside from the regular trainings being
conducted, a new training module for those newly-hired career
counselors/specialists has been recently developed and introduced thisyear.
The trainings, however, are confined only to JPESOs staff andpersonnel. Since some functions of JPESOs are being undertaken byschools, colleges and universities particularly career counseling andadministration of aptitude tests, perhaps it would also be beneficial ifsome of the trainings are also extended to these organizations.
JPESOs as “independent bodies.”
The key informant also
revealed that there are current discussions in the central government
regarding the possibility of elevating the status of JPESOs as“independent bodies.” However, there is no clear direction yet as towhether such proposal would result into something concrete or not.

35

Exploring more meaningful co-existence with private placement
agencies.
The deregulation in the operations of placement anddispatching services is viewed as a strategic action to arrest Japan’s
increasing number of unemployed. It also places private employment
agencies at the forefront of employment placement services together with
JPESOs. With this development, there are now ongoing discussions on
how to maximize this co-existence to further benefit the job seekers.
Aside from what have been mentioned in the early part of this study, aprivate sector informant disclosed that there are some other strategicareas of collaboration which should be further explored. Essentially,
this lies on the areas of information sharing, exchange of personnel, andconduct of orientation seminars on ESL and other relevant laws, i.e., toproperly interpret the law and encourage high compliance.
Another avenue which should be looked into is the conduct ofregular consultative meetings between private placement agencies and
JPESOs. The purpose of these meetings is to facilitate exchange of
information, address various concerns/issues impeding their operations
and co-existence as well as those confronting the labor market, and toprovide deeper understanding of existing laws governing their operations,and new employment measures/interventions of government. Some
JPESOs and placement agencies in specific areas of the country havealready started this set-up but the discussion has yet to go deeper into
the basic issues.
Moreover, another possible area that can be explored is theparticipation of the private sector in providing substantive inputs in
upgrading training modules, vocational guidance materials and aptitude
tests given their vast immersion/experience, and knowledge on
industry’s needs and evolving developments.
The foregoing proposals are intended to serve as building blocks
in enriching the co-existence of both “players” and at the same time, in
ensuring a smoother flow of labor market operations.
Relaxation

of

some

provisionsofexisting

laws.

While

36

deregulation has facilitated a conducive environment for private
employment placement agencies to thrive, there are some provisions ofexisting laws which could be further relaxed. According to the private
sector informant, these are in the areas of collection of fees frommid-career job seekers once the market becomes “liquid,” and placementof foreign workers. He also raised the possibility of coming up with aunified rules on placement and dispatching services given the similar
nature of the activity. For instance, a company who provides the same
services need not register separately.
C.

Conclusion

Japan’s Public Employment Security Office vast experience infacilitating job placement and counseling services serves as a finer
example which the Philippine PESO could draw valuable lessons andinsights in line with the current moves to improve its performance.
Imitating a semblance of Japan’s PESO experience would undoubtedly
make a considerable significance in addressing the unemployment andunderemployment problems of the Philippines.
However, this major feat can only be realized if the fundamental
macro goals of the country would be restored. These include significant
improvement in the economic condition (i.e., economic growthtantamount to employment opportunities), restoration of peace and ordersituation, bringing back investor’s confidence and encouraging
investments in the countryside to stimulate local economies, andcontinuous human resource development (i.e., skills training, re-training
and upgrading) to meet emerging changes in skills requirements of the
global workplace, among others.

37

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pp. 1-58

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Institute for Labor Studies (2004). “The Filipino Worker Amid
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Administration: 2001-03),” Manila.
National Statistics Office.
Search Methods. Manila

Labor Force Survey Data on Job

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Warm appreciation and deep gratitude to the following “moving forces”:
To Our Creator for this amazing grace;
To my family and friends for their love, patience and unwavering
support;To my superiors at the Institute for Labor Studies -- Directors
Tetey Soriano and Gette Imperial for giving me this opportunity toharness my skills as a researcher and expand my horizon;
To Mr. Yasushi Fukushima who generously recommended me tothis Program;To Labor Attache Rey Regalado for sharing this piece of
valuable information with us;
To the key informants who openly provided candid observations
and assessments of the situation;and,To President Ono, senior officers, researchers and staff of
this “haven for labor researchers” – the Japan Institute for Labor
Policy and Training (JILPT) for extending this Program to foreign
researchers, for their valuable assistance and warm hospitality, and formaking this stint a learning experience -- one that is truly
worth-remembering.

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