The Kabataan Partylist today disproved government claims of an increase in employment rate, saying it’s nothing but a media stunt intended to conceal the anticipated rise in the unemployment rate this month with the entry of new graduates in the workforce.
Toga-wearing members of Kabataan Partylist put on “for export” boxes to show the growing number of new graduates and Filipinos who are forced to go abroad due to scarcity of jobs in the Philippines.
Contrary to government claims, Kabataan Partylist President and 1st nominee Raymond Palatino said only a few of the more than 400,000 students who will graduate this month and on April will land a job within the next two years.
“Only four of every 10 graduates will land a job within the year of their graduation. Many of those able to get a job will be in call centers or work abroad, but many will end up idle for months, even years,” he added.
“Unfortunately, the employment pool can accommodate only a few of these graduates thus leaving many others asking themselves whether college education was worth the time and money at all,” Palatino said.
“The economy is unable to absorb the large number of new entrants into the labor market each year. Even records of the Commission on Higher Education show business courses alone produce about 45,000 surplus graduates who end up unemployed. It is particularly difficult for young workers to find employment, and even more difficult for them to find well-paid, secure and safe jobs.”
“Thus many of this year’s graduates are left with only two options: either to work in call centers or leave the country. This largely explains the continuous brain drain in the country and the soaring underemployment rate.”
Palatino said the lack of job opportunities is forcing many college degree holders to work in call centers or as domestic helpers and caregivers just to earn a living, even if these jobs do not match their degrees for which their families spent large sums of money.
He added that these new graduates, as their previous batches were, are doomed to become idle in the following months, even years after graduation.
He cited a study conducted by Dr. Roberto Padua and Dr. Juliet Daguay of Mindanao Polytechnic State College which shows that lack of jobs has forced 41 percent of males and 50 percent of females to become idle after graduation.
Only 40 percent of the total graduates are likely to land jobs within the year of their graduation. The other 40 percent will not be able to find employment until next year while the remaining 20 percent will probably become unemployed for the next two years. On the average, a graduate has to wait for 18 months before being employed.
Palatino said the waiting period for most graduates may actually take forever.
Citing another study made by Dr. Adriano Arcelo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), he revealed that jobs requiring higher education comprise only around 7.2 percent of the total job opportunities in the country. Ironically, he said, elementary graduates (11.1 million) and high school graduates (10.9 million) make up most of the employed sector based on the census data in 2003. It is probable however that these comprise the sector that is largely considered underemployed, are self-employed or doing odd jobs, he explained.
He also expressed doubts if the present administration can provide employment to the new graduates this year and if Arroyo can really deliver six million jobs at the end of her term.
Palatino said about 700,000 workers are laid-off every year due to “mass labor contractualization.” He chided the Arroyo government for its continued labor export policy which banks on international migration, saying it does not resolve the prevalent joblessness in the country. Some 2,800 Filipinos fly abroad everyday due to lack of job opportunities.
He said the unemployment problem is rooted in the country’s educational system wherein degree holders do not have the skills and knowledge required to qualify for the jobs they aspire for. “Raw training underwent by new graduates make them unqualified for in demand jobs, so most of them are forced to resort to underemployment,” he explained.
Palatino elaborated that the overconcentration of students on few courses also contributes to the growing unemployment rate. “Most courses in fact do not correspond to the actual need of the local economy for it to develop, and instead its graduates are designed to be exported outside the country to serve foreign interests,” he said.
He then urged the government and the education department to restructure the education curriculum in the context of national industrialization that would generate mass employment and will provide adequate income for the family of Filipino workers.
Palatino likewise advised basic skills training, retraining and upgrading for teachers to solve the poor passing rates in licensure examinations. “The government and our lawmakers must also investigate the proliferation of fly-by-night schools and pseudo-colleges which only serve as diploma-vending institutions but produce mediocre graduates,” he concluded.
