The number of employers who have hired poor but deserving students has increased by 300 percent, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Sunday.

The DoLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment (BLE) said the participation of employers in small and medium enterprises in its Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) has continued to climb in the last 16 years.

“From a modest 1,431 in 1993, we now have over 71,000 employers actively participating in the program,’’ said BLE Director Maria Criselda Sy.

“It is such a great success... and the program has made immense positive impact on national development,’’ Sy added.

The SPES Law or RA 7323 took effect on March 30, 1992 with a budget of P42.9 million. It aims to provide employment to poor but deserving students aged 15 years but not more than 25 years during summer and/or Christmas vacations in business establishments.

Under the program, students get paid a minimum wage, 40 percent of which is in the form of voucher applicable for the payment of tuition fees and books in any secondary, tertiary, vocational or technical educational institutions. The 60 percent is paid for in cash by the employers.

They (students) are also entitled to other benefits and privileges under the Labor Code, it was learned.

Since its inception, over 1.4 million poor but deserving students directly benefited from the program.

In 2008, DoLE was able to acquire a budget of P136.1 million for the SPES implementation. The total allocation amounted to P2.3 billion in over a 16-year period.

Despite the achievement, Sy admitted that the DoLE is facing challenges of vigorously promoting the SPES law to entice more employers to participate.

In addition, she said there is a need to develop a highly-competitive corps of SPES youth, provide timely and accurate data on SPES program operations, vigorously monitor SPES ''babies'' and reach the poorest of the poor.

"Unless we work in harmony with a common purpose with the PESOs (Public Employment Service Offices), the employers and the local government units (LGUs), we will not be able to overcome these challenges,’’ she said.