MANILA – Amid the many new job openings being created by a vibrant economy, the labor and employer sector agree that there are still too many college graduates who end up being unemployed, underemployed or landing jobs that do not optimize the use of their skills.
During the Employers Confederation of the Philippines’ (ECOP) forum held Thursday at the Holiday Inn and Suites Makati, business leaders and labor representatives agreed that job mismatch remains prevalent in the country, resulting to premature resignations and unhappy workers.
Luis Corral, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) vice president, said during a media interview that the Department of Labor and Employment should institute new measures addressing this issue. “DOLE should keep on having these job fairs, it’s good, but it is not the only employment strategy around,” he added.
He also added that most vacancies available through these fairs are low-paying and do not really match the level of competence most Filipino graduates can offer. Thus, many graduates prefer working abroad to land jobs that equal their skill, leading to more ‘brain drain’ for the country.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority say that of the 5.3% unemployment rate in October 2018, 24.0 percent of these were college graduates, 16.0 percent were college undergraduates, and 27.5 percent have completed junior high school.
The October 2018 Labor Force Survey registered a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 60.6 percent given the population 15 years old and over of 71.9 million.
In a drafted social accord statement released to the press, ECOP cited that the unemployment rate has slightly gone down to 5.3 percent to 2.2 million individuals, but the underemployment rate- those who are employed but looking for additional work- is still a significant 18 percent of the labor force.
“The category of part-time workers who work less than 40 hours in a week is 57 percent of the underemployed. These are indicators of the persistent gaps and weaknesses in the Philippine labor force, which bipartite initiatives through joint labor and management action at the enterprise level,” it added.
The number of college-educated unemployed, self-employed and the underemployed indicate that there remain gaps leading to jobs-skills mismatch that need to be addressed in order to tap the full productive potential of a young Filipino labor force, according to the statement.
Corral also urged the DOLE to help applicants not only to land jobs but land decent and high-paying jobs.
“They should identify with the business sector to develop proactive approaches or improve on policy measures, increase wages by doing training, workshops,” he added.
ECOP and TUCP engaged in a leaders’ forum to strengthen bipartite labor management relations at the national and enterprise level with focus on skills development. (PNA)
