1. Addressing Skills Mismatch: LMI, Local Employment Planning
and Career Guidance
Atty. Jalilo O. Dela Torre, OIC, Bureau of Local Employment

2. In a labor-surplus economy, we’re now experiencing an unbelievable phenomenon of jobs looking for workers.
Out of 100 workers applying for call center jobs, only 5 are hired: they need 600,000 more until 2010, according to BPAP
100,000 welders needed locally.
Commercial airline pilots and aviation technicians have flown away and are now considered critical skills.
Mining, geodetic and metallurgical engineers now needed by the mining industry but none can be extracted from the earth.
Did you know we don’t have enough waiters and bartenders? And you thought waitering was easy!

3. Where are the jobs?

4. Key Employment Generators Demand/Supply Situation
Jobs Creation Capacity ( )
In Demand Skills
Hard to Fill Occupation
I. Cyberservices
1,383,892
Entry-level Animators, HR Analysts, Financial Accountants, Call Center Agents, Engineers, Editors, Programmers,
Engineers, Accountants, Animators, Programmers, Contact Center Agents, Medical Transcriptionists, Editors
II. Mining
39,382
Skilled Engineers, Miner, Surveyor, Geodetic Engineer, Metallurgist
Geologists, Mining Engineers, Metallurgical Engineers, Geodetic Engineer
III. Aviation
27,581
Pilot, Mechanic, Air Traffic Controller
Pilot, Mechanic
IV. Agribusiness
2,043,755
Inland and Coastal Fishermen, Oyster/Mussel Farm Cultivator, Vegetable Farmer, Fruit Tree Farmer
Entrepreneurs, Aquaculturist, Horticulturist

5. Key Employment Generator (2006-2010)
Jobs Creation Capacity ( )
In Demand Skills
Hard to Fill Occupation
V. Health and Social Work (Health Services/Medical Tourism)
382,495
Trained Nurse, Dentist, Nursing Aide, Health Aide, Massage Therapist
Trained Nurse, Surgeon, Spa Therapists, Herbologist, Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgeon
VI. Hotel and Restaurant
400,280
Front Office Agent/Attendant, Cook, Food Server and Handler, Food and Beverages Attendant, Other Housekeeping Services, Waiter, Bartender
Chefs, Front Office Agent/Attendant, Cook, Food Server and Handler, Food and Beverages Attendant, Other Housekeeping Services, Waiter, Bartender
VII. Overseas Employment
5.6 m
Seabased, Production, Professional and Technical, Administrative and Managerial, Clerical, Sales, Service, Agricultural
Aluminum Fabricator
Auto Mechanic, Pipe Welder
Pipe Fitter, Carpenter, Marine Deck Officer, Marine Engineer Officer
VIII. Shipbuilding & Maritime
Marine Officer, Seafarer, Culinary Chef, All occupations under shipbuilding, Welder, Fabricators, Pipe Fitter, Marine Electrician
IX. Construction
Architect, Engineer,Welder, HEO, Insulator, Rigger, Fabricator, Pipe Fitter

6. Why do we still have underutilized labor?

7. We believe the culprit is skills mismatch.
Skills mismatch – refers to a condition whereby the skills and education of the existing workforce do not match the needs of existing firms and industries. This largely reflects the fact that a country’s policies, primarily labor and education, have not adjusted to the needs of its economic sectors.

8. This phenomenon is not just happening in the Philippines.

9. Reasons for unemployability of college graduates
the lack of English language competencies,
poor interactive skills,
poor choice of degree courses,
poor quality degree courses or
more blatantly, just too many students who barely passed their degree examinations.
Reaction by a reader in a blog to a plan of the Malaysian government to enroll college undergraduates in skills training to improve their employability.

10. A substantial portion of the registered 66,000 unemployed graduates are from some of the most popular courses.
Business administration, computer and information technology, and engineering are the most sought-after courses by many school leavers. This has resulted in a high number of unemployment among graduates from these disciplines – 19,900 business administration graduates, 9,500 from computer and information technology, and 7,500 engineering graduates.
The Malay Mail, April 11, 2005

11. Running third is engineering, with 45,444 expected graduates for the year. Compared with the figures in 1995, when its graduates stood at 46,090, the number dropped by 1.4 percent.
Engineering graduates will have the toughest time in getting the jobs that they spent time learning in the colleges they came from.
“We produce mostly white-collar engineers. They never get their hands on. Worse, they are not qualified to be engineers in its strict sense,”
Donald Dee, President, Employers Confederation of the Philippines

12. The bottomline is, students should pick courses based on their capabilities and not based on what's apparently "in-demand" out there (e.g., IT courses). If you are not cut out for IT or Engineering, putting yourselves through the courses is not going to make you more employable in the IT or Engineering markets.

13. “Jobs skills mismatch is a major challenge right now
“Jobs skills mismatch is a major challenge right now. A large number of trained graduates are left unemployed or underemployed because they do not fit the requirements of the job market. It’s quite ironic that a number of job vacancies could not be filled up because the available manpower supply would not fit the job.”
Secretary of Education Jeslie Lapus

15. Percentage of Graduates Employed in Jobs Requiring Preparation in Field
Field of Study
1995 Graduates (%)
1991 Graduates (%)
Agriculture
25.8
35.7
Architecture
42.4
79.6
Commerce & Business
63.9
86.8
Computer Science
38.5
75.5
Dentistry
65.7
89.2
Economics
17.3
31.0
Engineering
59.9
66.3
Fisheries
21.1
66.7
Humanities
19.7
54.6
Language
18.6
60.9
Law
39.4
62.3
Marine Engineering
42.9
56.8
Mass Communications
26.3
58.3
Mathematics
22.9
58.6
Medical Technology
37.8
63.4
Medicine
57.5
87.4
Nautical Science
48.4
Nursing
41.0
84.5
Physical Science
20.3
Social Science
29.3
43.0
Teacher Education
41.9
77.4
Veterinary Medicine
43.5

18. National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE)-administered by DepEd to determine the areas of improvement in the basic educational system that could address the job mismatch in the country.
1,305,211 – took the test on Jan 17, 2007
49,066 or 3.76% showed high aptitude for college admission
(75% and above in General Scholastic Aptitude)
757,356 or 58.03% demonstrated high levels of entrepreneurial skills
711,526 or 54.51% demonstrated high levels of vocational skills

19. Why college education is still preferred by most
College education qualifies them for white-collar employment which usually offers a number of advantages—more comfortable and safer workplaces, more regular and stable terms of employment, and social security protection.
College education improves their lifestyle, if not their social standing.
CHED 1995 TASK FORCE

21. Reasons why public secondary schools don’t benefit from career guidance and counseling:
Guidance counselors have little time for guidance and counseling;
High ratio of students to each guidance counselor
Lack of training of guidance counselor in career guidance and counseling and in testing and measurement;
Lack of career and labor market information;
Inadequate budget for career guidance
Lack of qualified staff to use tests for career guidance and counseling

22. What do we do about it?

23. Recommended Strategies and Interventions

24. Labor Market Information
For career guidance and advocacy
For human resource development planning
For jobs skills matching
For curriculum development
For investments promotion

25. Elements of Local Employment Planning
Local economic and labor market analysis
Identification of growth economic sectors
Developing a human resources development plan for the identified growth sectors
Initiating a multi-stakeholder dialogue to formulate the local employment plan and invest ownership
Developing employability of constituents through skills mapping
Developing entrepreneurship capabilities of constituents
Building capacity of local institutions for employment facilitation, jobs creation and livelihood promotion

26. Career Information, Guidance and Advocacy
Focused on public high schools with no career guidance and counseling services
Aimed at paradigm shift in career choice decision making
Interdisciplinary in approach
Multi-year scalar implementation
Driven by NMS and NHRC recommendations

27. Strategic Framework for Youth Employment

28. Manpower Summits

29. What we can do together

30. 3(C)+1 in Active Labor Market Policies
International organizations
Government
3(C)+1 in
Public Employment Service
Complementation+Collaboration+Convergence
Active Labor Market Policies
Industry
Academe
Framework of Engagement in Local Employment

31. Urgent Tasks for Collaboration among DOLE,PESOPHIL and private industry:
Career Advocacy Program – Career Information, Guidance and Counseling Training Interventions
Broadening Access to Labor Market Information to the Youth;
Addressing Human Resource Challenges of Priority Growth Economic Sectors, especially BPO
Addressing Skills Mismatch through Industry-Academe-Government Collaboration for Curricular Reform
Extending Corporate Social Responsibility of BPO into the Addressing Vulnerabilities of Disadvantaged Sectors