As many as 100,000 people are expected to flock to a series of job fairs being held nationwide from today, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday.
The first two job fairs open today in Taichung and Hualien, while two more will be held next Saturday in Taoyuan and Tainan. According to the council estimates, 84,000 job openings and 71,000 training positions will be available at the four job fairs.
“Job seekers coming to the fairs will be comprehensively served. In addition to filling in job applications and having initial job interviews, they will be informed within two weeks if they have been recruited. If they do not manage to secure a job, they will receive information on other job opportunities,” Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Vice Chairman Kuo Foung-yu (郭芳煜) told a press conference yesterday.
Among the projected 84,000 full-time job opportunities, 25,000 are in the public sector and 15,000 in the private sector, while about 20,000 people who qualify would be able to sign up for voluntary military service, Kuo said.
The Executive Yuan has called on various agencies, including the CLA, the Ministry of Education, the Council of Agriculture, the National Youth Commission and the Coast Guard Administration to provide job openings for the fairs.
The government had originally promised to provide jobs for 40,000 people at four job fairs to be held around the country. However, that number has risen to more than 80,000 in the past few weeks.
However, the council has been accused of inflating the number of job openings and getting job seekers’ hopes up without providing any real benefits.
Labor associations have called the job fairs a “numbers game” aimed at making job seekers feel better.
“Job seekers scurry to attend job fairs, thinking this could be their big chance,” said Son Yu-lian (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labor Front.
He urged the council to improve local employment service centers instead, so that the unemployed could find jobs without having to travel a long way, only to be crowded out by other job seekers.
Despite the criticism, council officials said they were optimistic about the turnout at the job fairs.
Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training director-general Chen I-min (陳益民) said the fairs would be divided into five areas to provide for the specific needs of job seekers: job openings, skills upgrades for college graduates, employment training, business start-ups and career planning counseling.
“People should not only look for jobs here [at the fairs], but choose the best direction for their lives according to their needs,” he said.
Those planning to attend the fairs can visit the council’s online job bank at www.ejob.gov.tw.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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