The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said there will be 170,000 job vacancies awaiting Filipinos in career fairs to be held in at least 70 sites across the country on 1 May.

According to Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, the fairs will be joined by around 2,000 employers and will be held in cooperation with mall operators nationwide.

"The number of job vacancies can still be increased because we still have three more days before the celebration of the Labor Day," Laguesma said in a radio interview on Sunday, 27 April.

"I am inviting all the jobseekers, those unemployed and those already employed but looking to check if the available jobs in the job fair sites would give better positions, better benefits," he added.

Laguesma also noted that recent job fairs last week recorded on-the-spot hires — more or less 100 in Malolos, Bulacan; 128 in Dagupan; and 170 in Pampanga.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show there were 1.94 million Filipinos aged 15 and above unemployed as of February.

This is higher than the 1.80 million jobless in February 2024 but lower than the 2.16 million recorded in January.

There were 49.15 million employed Filipinos during the month, equivalent to an employment rate of 96.2 percent.

Out of the employed individuals, 4.86 million were underemployed — those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, to take on an additional job, or to find a new job with longer hours.