Pest of Careers: What Hinders the PH Labor Force’s Potential?
A job seems to be a solution to most financial worries. Employment is key to the salary utilized to support one’s basic needs. However, based on a recent report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Philippines’ unemployment rate during December 2022 was 4.3 percent. The unemployment rate determines the proportion of people who are looking for work but are currently unemployed and one of the contributing factors of it was the lack of fresh graduates’ opportunity to acquire jobs.
Although this data is second lowest to April 2005’s unemployment rate, this is a significant portion of our population that suffers from poverty that may contribute to any societal issue. As a response, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), particularly the Alumni Relations and Career Development Office, held a three-day hybrid job fair entitled “Career Fest 2023” from February 20 to February 23, 2023.
Following that, a seminar on career orientation for graduating students was held at the PUP Gymnasium with the sponsorship of BOSCH, China Bank, UnionBank, Tech One Global Phils., Inc., QIAGEN, International Airline Services, TOPLC, Seven Seven Global Services, Inc., and Nezda Technologies Inc.
A Domino Effect
PUP, which is recognized for providing help to all students, considers that a college career fair would offer students an idea of how to start their job search in a better way and equip them with skills that will be beneficial later on. On the same page, it is to give employers the chance to find the students they need to fill any level of position and to give other industries a chance to showcase what their businesses are like to the community.
On the other hand, if students — especially those graduating — get hired because of the career fair’s assistance, the campus would benefit from increased awareness and high employment rates, which would eventually result in a drop in the unemployment rate in the country.
A Helping Hand
This three-day hybrid job fair is crucial to everyone’s future. Aside from students, this career orientation offered the alumni the ability to learn more about the various participating sectors and internship options that could help them network with industry professionals and conduct a job search.
It also featured scholarship opportunities abroad that may help them experience a different kind of education. Graduating students now have the chance to learn more about the opportunities that are available in their field of study. Moreover, through organizing the career fair, businesses from a variety of fields may have the opportunity to network with students and build professional partnerships.
Help For Whom?
One of the graduating students who happened to attend the career fair said,
“(Nakaka)sad lang na walang media or research company talaga to cater DCR peeps (people).”
[“It’s just sad that there is no media or research company to cater to the Department of Communication Research (DCR) people.”]
This is in regard to the lack of people or industries that accommodate the individuals of the Communication Research program. This is to emphasize that the mathematics and science-related courses received more engagement from the companies while those inclined to social science programs received less from the businesses mentioned above.
This defeats the purpose of the Career Festival for some PUPians. Overall, it seems that the aim to help the people through the Career Festival was selective and permits one program to be left behind.
The names have been called. That piece of paper has been trophied upfront. The headgear has been lost after the simultaneous tossing of caps. After two long years overdue, another batch of graduates will join the roster of labor force participants of the country. It is expected for them to secure a paying job right after graduation. But things are not exactly what they hope for as De Castro et al. (2015) said, the Philippines has a highly-competitive labor market.
From the application processes, it is survival of the fittest. There’s a need to market yourself as the best option as multiples of hundreds or sometimes up to thousands of applicants do the same thing you are considering.
From the employment website JobStreet alone, 75,000 job listings are available from their platform but Philip Gioca, the country manager of JobStreet Philippines, even bared that, “competition among talents is tougher, so job seekers are encouraged to learn new skills and tools, rehearse for interviews and put their best foot forward” (Monzon, 2023).
According to Mapa (2023), the country’s employment rate from December 2022 is still at 95.7% despite the slight slimming of 0.1% compared to its preceding month — an impressive figure if it looked just that way.
On the other hand, the unemployment rate went down. This is far from the optimistic take that we could perceive from these statistics as activist groups say that contractual and informal jobs are the reason why the figures went down (Lalu, 2022).
This was concurred by economist Sonny Africa, who said that the decline of employment of up to 600,000 has been offset by the 378,000 increase in part-time work. He also said that “Millions of discouraged jobless Filipinos are not being counted and millions in pseudo-work are called ‘employed’” (Dela Peña, 2022).
Stepping back from the figure perspectives, job opportunities are scarce especially for industries or sectors that social sciences and communication fall on.
Berard (n.d.) stated that the most in-demand industries are retail, information technology, banking/finance, healthcare, education, hospitality, marketing, and e-commerce. There appears no glimpse of the communication industry such as media, research, etc., being at par with other industries.
We are doing well in figures but beyond the numbers and the interpretations and discussions, it does not translate that well. Especially when it is being integrated into the realities that working Filipinos experience.
We Are Not Suitable
Aside from the employment rate, unemployment rate, and underemployment, there’s an existing phenomenon within the labor force that is causing an issue — job mismatch.
In an article by Piatos (2022), 40% of working Filipinos are classified as a job mismatch due to their overqualification. JobStreet further explained the phenomenon of job mismatch as they say that the skills possessed by an employee do not align with the position that they are assuming (Team Orange, 2022).
De Castro et al. (2015) even said that the hard-earned degree/s by graduates are becoming unnecessary since there is no certainty that the job they secured corresponds to their education attained and skills acquired. This is also the phenomenon that was present during the Career Fest 2023. Industries that should have catered to every graduating COC student were nowhere to be found, leaving them with multiple industries from banking/finance, information technology, hospitality, administration, etc.
COCians and/or graduating DCR students are already facing the phenomenon of a mismatch from the career fest, the purpose was to educate them about opportunities in the industry and provide a network between the students and the industry. In order for these objectives to be met, it may be recommended for the next Career Fest to partner with employers that correspond to the alignment of field and discipline of students per college.
Since it is twice or even three times as high as in other countries, the Philippines’ unemployment issue needs to be handled seriously. Yet, as a developing nation, the country’s unemployment situation is grave at the moment and cannot be completely eliminated since it can actually improve if the government is prepared to act fast and decisively.
REFERENCES:
Berard, V. (n.d). Most In-Demand Jobs in the Philippines in 2023. Grab Jobs. https://grabjobs.co/resources/career-resources/job-search/most-in-demand-jobs-in-philippines/
De Castro, B., Cheng, Y., Montenegro, J.L., Pelmonte, J. (2015). The Consequences of education mismatch and skill mismatch on employees’ work productivity: A Structural Equation Model. Luz y Saber, 9 (1–2), 108. https://research-manila.letran.edu.ph/read/108
Dela Peña, K. (2022, November 9). Dark side of PH jobs numbers: More Filipinos in outright informal work. Inquirer.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1691134/dark-side-of-ph-jobs-numbers-more-filipinos-in-outright-informal-work
Lalu, G. (2022, November 8). Activists warn: Lower unemployment rate due to more contractual, informal jobs. Inquirer.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1690590/activists-warn-lower-unemployment-rate-may-be-due-to-more-contractual-informal-jobs#ixzz7k8L6wCAb
Mapa, D. (2023, February 8). Unemployment Rate in December 2022 is Estimated at 4.3 Percent. Philippine Statistics Authority. https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-and-employment/labor-force-survey/title/Unemployment%20Rate%20in%20December%202022%20is%20Estimated%20at%204.3%20Percent
Monzon, A. (2023, January 22). Top 10 in-demand jobs cited. Inquirer.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1719483/top-10-in-demand-jobs-cited
Philippine Labor Force Survey April 2005 (Preliminary Results) | Philippine Statistics Authority. (n.d.). Psa.gov.ph. Retrieved from https://psa.gov.ph/content/philippine-labor-force-survey-april-2005-preliminary-results#
Piatos, T.C. (2022, September 8). Unemployed Filipinos down in July 2022. Philippine Institute for Development Studies. https://www.pids.gov.ph/details/news/in-the-news/unemployed-filipinos-down-in-july-2022#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Philippine%20Institute,be%20overqualified%20in%20their%20jobs.
Unemployment Rate in December 2022 is Estimated at 4.3 Percent | Philippine Statistics Authority. (n.d.). Psa.gov.ph. Retrieved from https://psa.gov.ph/content/unemployment-rate-december-2022-estimated-43-percent
Useful Definitions. (n.d.). Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/newsroom/useful_definitions/
