MANILA, Philippines – If the Philippines wants to address the lack of decent paying jobs for Filipinos, it must first solve the mismatch between skills and demands of the labor market, said the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
In a statement on Sunday, February 17, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority are now focusing on skills mismatch.
“These agencies are working closely with colleges and schools to ensure that the courses offered match the kind of jobs that are expected to be generated by the economy,” said Balisacan.
“At the same time, the ‘K to 12’ program is meant to ensure that students learn enough basic skills to facilitate the acquisition of advanced skills through training and to support innovative activity,” he said.
Based on the October Labor Force Survey, there are close to 10 million Filipinos who are either looking for jobs or looking for additional jobs to get by.
World Bank Country Director Motoo Konishi said the Philippines needs to create 14.6 million jobs between now and 2016 to create opportunities for all these Filipinos as well as those joining the labor force in the coming years.
Balisacan said the government is also addressing policy inconsistencies and administrative inefficiencies to continue improving the country’s investment climate and generate better jobs.
“To generate more and better employment, we are working on improving the business climate and labor regulations,” he said.
Balisacan said it would take at least $3 billion investments to create as much as 621,000 jobs every year.
He said the investments must go to employment-generating sectors such as manufacturing and business process outsourcing.
“Our initial estimates suggest that $3 billion investments in these sectors will create 621,000 jobs, both directly and indirectly through multiplier effects,” he explained.
The latest Labor Force Survey showed the number of employed persons increased from 36.5 million in October 2010 to 37.7 million in October 2012. This translated to a drop in the unemployment rate to 6.8% from 7.1% during the same period. – Rappler.com
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