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

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!

Where are the jobs?

Key Employment Generators Demand/Supply Situation Jobs Creation Capacity (2006-2010) 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

Key Employment Generator (2006-2010) Jobs Creation Capacity (2006-2010) 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

Why do we still have underutilized labor?

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.

This phenomenon is not just happening in the Philippines.

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.

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

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

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.

“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

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

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

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

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

What do we do about it?

Recommended Strategies and Interventions

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

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

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

Strategic Framework for Youth Employment

Manpower Summits

What we can do together

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

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