President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. commended the SM Group for its contributions to job creation and workforce development as he underscored the vital role of collaboration between the government and the private sector in generating employment.

At the recent two-day Jobstreet Career Con 2025 held at the SMX Convention Center, President Marcos attributed the decline in the country’s unemployment rate to government-led initiatives to upskill workers.

“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,” he said.

Teresita Sy-Coson is the vice chairperson of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC). She is also a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council’s (PSAC) Education and Jobs Group, established by the President in 2022.

18K would get jobs

The President expressed optimism that many of the 18,000 registered jobseekers at the fair would secure 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 added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported a decline in unemployment from 3.9 percent in October 2024 to 3.2 percent in November 2024, within the country’s 51.2 million labor force.

President Marcos emphasized that the partnership between the government and the private sector has led to various sectors and agencies working together to bridge employers and prospective employees, while also upgrading workforce skills.

Malacañang highlighted that upskilling programs are part of government initiatives aimed at improving employment and livelihood.

About 130 companies participated in the job fair, including SM Retail, Nestlé, 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 successfully hosted 183 job fairs nationwide, connecting approximately 107,000 jobseekers 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 J.O.B.S. (Job Opportunities Building Skills) initiative, which hosts weekly job fairs in various SM malls nationwide, providing a job matching venue where employers and jobseekers can meet, match and grow.

These job fairs also feature 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, Department of Migrant Workers, local government units, Public Employment Service Offices, Jobstreet by SEEK, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, 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, Department of Tourism, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and Civil Service Commission, for their respective job fairs.