Unemployment remains a problem in the Philippines despite gross domestic product (GDP) growth in excess of 5 per cent for the past three years.
The government defines the unemployed as those who are simultaneously without work, looking for work and immediately available for work.
According to the Institute for Labor Studies, the ranks of unemployed person have exhibited an increasing trend since 1998, along with the swelling in the labor force and the moderate performance of economy. Except for a minor decline in 1999, the number of unemployed has increased gradually from 3.043 million in 1998 to 3.874 million in 2002. As a ratio to labor force, the rate of unemployment declined slightly from 10.3 percent in 1998 to 9.8 percent in 1999. It rose to 11.2 percent in 2000 and has remained at almost the same rate in 2001 and 2002.
Also Ray Brooks said that unemployment has fluctuated in the past 20 years.
Figure 1: Unemployment Rate
There have been many students that have graduated in various courses and studies but according to the Institute for Labor Studies that the number of job vacancies in ads like newspapers, radios and internet are increasing.
The factors that are the causes of this are education and training, hiring practices, as well as the attitude of prospective workers toward jobs.
First our education and training institutions are plagued with a number of problems like the over-subscription of certain courses, and under-subscription in certain priority courses; low survival rate / graduation rate and low performance in licensure examinations. But even with these problems, there are still a lot of students graduating. The problem is that English-speaking and highly trainable manpower, a number of employers still raised the issue of poor communication skills of applicants. Adding to these problems are the proliferation sub-standard education and training institutions, which are characterized by poor curricula, inadequate teacher training and low investment in education, as well as its unequal distribution in the country.
The other factor is the selection/ hiring of the workers. Companies also have preferences as to the school where the applicants graduated, age requirements experience. Moreover, even if the aforementioned preferential requirements are present, the prospective employers are looking for minimum levels of competencies/ proficiencies, and good communication skills, which they usually find absent in most of the graduates. They term this as skills deficiency, which is the main result of poor school curricula.
For the attitude of the individual, some graduates pursue a master’s course because they believe that no work will be available for them.
Moreover, even the under-utilisation of some of the government services like the career guidance counseling available is also another factor in the mismatch. Said under-utilisation led to the deprivation of student on information regarding `in-demand’ skills, courses, and/ or specialization in the industries, thereby leading them to take courses considered as oversubscribed.
The study suggests the mapping of private Higher Education Institutions and State Universities and Colleges of the Philippines programs and curriculum should to eliminate duplication of programs as well as inefficient institutions and setting up more centers of development/ excellence instead of substandard ones. Likewise, international linkages of higher education programs should also be established to make higher education at par with international standards. This will not just upgrade the training and education sector, but will also help in the lobbying for the mutual recognition of qualifications across fields of discipline.
Education and training institutions must also try their best to explore the possibility of new programs in collaboration with the user sector (industries themselves); as well as to rationalize the student financial assistance programs in favor of priority courses.
Low-performing programs should also be slowly phased out.
Avenues for alternative learning should be explored to help students in their studies.
The education and training institutions should not only concentrate on making their students competent in their field of studies, but also in harnessing their communication skills which may prove useful especially at the early stage of job-seeking.
Increasing investment will be a key to job creation.
The government defines the unemployed as those who are simultaneously without work, looking for work and immediately available for work.
According to the Institute for Labor Studies, the ranks of unemployed person have exhibited an increasing trend since 1998, along with the swelling in the labor force and the moderate performance of economy. Except for a minor decline in 1999, the number of unemployed has increased gradually from 3.043 million in 1998 to 3.874 million in 2002. As a ratio to labor force, the rate of unemployment declined slightly from 10.3 percent in 1998 to 9.8 percent in 1999. It rose to 11.2 percent in 2000 and has remained at almost the same rate in 2001 and 2002.
Also Ray Brooks said that unemployment has fluctuated in the past 20 years.
Figure 1: Unemployment Rate
There have been many students that have graduated in various courses and studies but according to the Institute for Labor Studies that the number of job vacancies in ads like newspapers, radios and internet are increasing.
The factors that are the causes of this are education and training, hiring practices, as well as the attitude of prospective workers toward jobs.
First our education and training institutions are plagued with a number of problems like the over-subscription of certain courses, and under-subscription in certain priority courses; low survival rate / graduation rate and low performance in licensure examinations. But even with these problems, there are still a lot of students graduating. The problem is that English-speaking and highly trainable manpower, a number of employers still raised the issue of poor communication skills of applicants. Adding to these problems are the proliferation sub-standard education and training institutions, which are characterized by poor curricula, inadequate teacher training and low investment in education, as well as its unequal distribution in the country.
The other factor is the selection/ hiring of the workers. Companies also have preferences as to the school where the applicants graduated, age requirements experience. Moreover, even if the aforementioned preferential requirements are present, the prospective employers are looking for minimum levels of competencies/ proficiencies, and good communication skills, which they usually find absent in most of the graduates. They term this as skills deficiency, which is the main result of poor school curricula.
For the attitude of the individual, some graduates pursue a master’s course because they believe that no work will be available for them.
Moreover, even the under-utilisation of some of the government services like the career guidance counseling available is also another factor in the mismatch. Said under-utilisation led to the deprivation of student on information regarding `in-demand’ skills, courses, and/ or specialization in the industries, thereby leading them to take courses considered as oversubscribed.
The study suggests the mapping of private Higher Education Institutions and State Universities and Colleges of the Philippines programs and curriculum should to eliminate duplication of programs as well as inefficient institutions and setting up more centers of development/ excellence instead of substandard ones. Likewise, international linkages of higher education programs should also be established to make higher education at par with international standards. This will not just upgrade the training and education sector, but will also help in the lobbying for the mutual recognition of qualifications across fields of discipline.
Education and training institutions must also try their best to explore the possibility of new programs in collaboration with the user sector (industries themselves); as well as to rationalize the student financial assistance programs in favor of priority courses.
Low-performing programs should also be slowly phased out.
Avenues for alternative learning should be explored to help students in their studies.
The education and training institutions should not only concentrate on making their students competent in their field of studies, but also in harnessing their communication skills which may prove useful especially at the early stage of job-seeking.
Increasing investment will be a key to job creation.
Reference:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/48515.htmlhoo.com/#ixzz0gFjgGvds
http://www.ilsdole.gov.ph/PAPs/ResCon/rcon_03ens3.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2002/wp0223.pdf
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/phil-a06.shtml