1.2M grads may not find jobs due to mismatch between skills needed, training — TUCP

MANILA — A labor group has warned that about 1.2 million college and vocation graduates this year will struggle getting a job due to a growing mismatch between their training and the job skills required by most employers in the country and overseas.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) cited Department of Labor and Employment records showing that out of the 4.23 million domestic and international job vacancies offered in all the job fairs in 2014 and 2015, only more than 391,000 were hired on the spot out of the 1.29 million applicants.

“This job-skills mismatch crisis in the country has been ongoing and it continues to grow. Competition is getting higher so employers are putting additional qualifications into the job descriptions,” said TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

Tanjusay added that the lack of, or little adjustments in learning institutions to fill the gaps caused by the heightened competitiveness in the job market has aggravated the problem.

“With employers adding more qualifications, graduates’ credentials will be scrutinized longer. This additional layer in the procedure could mean additional training, which entails further cost and perseverance for the applicant while those who fall through the cracks will become unemployed or underemployed,” he said.

He further cited DOLE records in 2015, which showed that roughly 135,590 were hired out of the 487,640 applicants in the 1,661 job fairs held nationwide. In 2014, a total of 255,498 people were hired out of the more than 798,000 applicants in the 2,025 job fairs conducted throughout the country.

Government records also showed that there were 656,284 college graduates while 1.6 million individuals finished their vocational courses in 2015.

In its Labor Market Information report for 2013 to 2020, DOLE identified key 275 occupations as in-demand and 102 occupations as “hard to fill” from among key and emerging industries.

In-demand occupations refer to active job vacancies posted or advertised repeatedly, which have high turnover or replacement rate.

Among these occupations are pulp processor, banana growing worker, bangus diver, banquet supervisor, bamboo materials craftsman, multi-lingual service crew, said Tanjusay.

Hard-to-fill occupations include 2-D digital animator, agricultural designer, clean-up artist, cosmetic dentist, cosmetic surgeon, cuisine chef, multi-lingual tour guide and mechatronics engineer, he added.  SFM