218,639 job vacancies in gov’t bared

A total of 218,639 positions in national government offices remain vacant. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto bared this yesterday while asking the Aquino administration to fill up the vacancies to ease joblessness, especially among the youth, which accounts for one in three unemployed throughout the country. He said the bureaucracy could also absorb the largest sector in the nation’s unemployed pool – some 536,072 who have college diplomas – if it starts filling up the vacancies. Recto, an economist, said there is a huge talent pool which can be tapped. Of the 1,513,695 total permanent job positions in the national government, only 1,295,056 would be occupied this year, leaving a vacancy of 218,639, he pointed out. “There’s almost a quarter of a million unfilled positions in the national government plantilla,” he said. The number excludes unfilled personnel items in local governments and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs). Recto, [...]