The Country Must Address Jobs-Skills Mismatch

Since today is Labor Day, I think it is appropriate and timely to write about the current labor situation in the Philippines. 

First off, the positive news. Contrary to what naysayers claim, the long-term economic prospects of our country is quite rosy. According to the CIA Factbook, the Philippines is now the 45^th largest economy in the world. Various international rating agencies predict that our country will become one of the largest in the world – Goldman Sachs estimates that by the year 2050 the Philippines will become the 14^th largest economy while HSBC estimates that our economy will become the 16^th largest in the world, the 5^th largest in Asia and the largest in Southeast Asia by 2050.  

Even now, there are unmistakable signs that the West is slowly on the decline while much of the East is progressing. For example, the unemployment rate in the Philippines is now lower compared to the unemployment rate in the United States – as of January 2012, DOLE reports that the unemployment rate in the country is 7.2% while in the U.S. it is 8.2% (as of March 2012). Other Western countries are also experiencing high unemployment - United Kingdom has 8.3% as of February 2012 while in Spain, which is currently undergoing a full-blown economic crisis, the unemployment rate is a whooping 24.4%. Of course, this is not to say that conditions in the Philippines is now better that the U.S. In fact, the standard of living in crisis-torn Spain is still considerably higher that in our country. What this signifies is that in the future (in 2050 perhaps) the living standards in our country will improve and may eventually become at par with Western standards.  

What is truly remarkable about the Philippines’ economic performance is that we were able to achieve growth without consuming too much electricity. Most experts agree that there is a “uni-directional causality” between electricity consumption and economic growth, and it is widely-held that for every 1% increase in the GNP a corresponding 1.6% growth in energy consumption is to be expected. Thus, to grow by 1% conventional wisdom says that we must increase our electricity consumption by 1.6%. But remarkably the Philippines was able to achieve an average 4% growth rate despite the fact that it has the highest electricity rates (and as a consequence, one of the lowest electricity consumption rates) in Asia. This is because our country’s economic growth is supported not by heavy manufacturing industries but by less energy-intensive industries like the service industry, tourism industry and the BPO sector. Moreover, if other countries have oil deposits, we have an inexhaustible supply of OFWs who contribute an average of $20 Billion (and growing) every year to the economy.

I believe that other nations can learn from the Philippine growth model. While it is true that our economic growth is slower compared to China, Malaysia and Thailand, ours is a growth model that has the least impact on the environment and thus the most sustainable. China has been growing at an average of 10% annually for the last two decades or so, but its “hyper-development” has only resulted to massive environmental degradation and the widening of the rich-poor gap in their country. In this age of Climate Change, countries we must find various ways to sustain economic development while decreasing its “carbon footprint.” 

As I mentioned earlier, the unemployment rate in the Philippines is now lower that in most Western countries. Increasingly, the problem faced by young people nowadays is not so much that there is a dearth in employment opportunities but that their educational background/skills training are not what the market demands. For instance, today there are thousands of nursing graduates in Iloilo without work (or who find themselves employed in unrelated fields) while other industry sectors on the other hand are finding it hard to source qualified professionals. Labor experts call this phenomenon “jobs-skills mismatch.” In a word, jobs-skill mismatch is caused by the imperfect and dysfunctional relationship between the private industry, public sector and the labor force.  

As such, addressing this jobs-skills mismatch is a task not only of the government but of private industry and the academe as well. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) can only undertake market research on future labor trends but it really cannot force parents to make their children enroll in courses needed by industry. As such, Filipino families must erase the stigma they attach to tech-voc education and encourage their children who possess an aptitude for technical careers to pursue vocational degrees. All private and public high schools must have guidance counselors who coach and direct students towards career paths that are best suited to their individuals talents and aptitudes. Colleges and universities must work closely with private industry to learn current labor demand and future market trends. In other words, the problem of jobs-skill mismatch requires a “private-public partnership” between government, the school, the family and the business sector.

If it is any consolation, almost all developed and developing countries experience a jobs-skills mismatch problem at one time or another. Several years back the United States and United Kingdom had to import nurses from the Philippines because there were not enough nursing professionals in their country. U.S. and U.K. authorities responded to this jobs-labor mismatch by conducting a massive Information Education Campaign (IEC) and by offering college scholarships to encourage more of its citizens to become nurses. Within a short span of time America and Britain were able to solve this mismatch (to the detriment of our Philippine nurses).

Likewise, in the Philippines there are certain industries which lack qualified professionals. To cite a specific example, one of the reasons why the Philippine mining industry cannot seem to take off is because there are not enough geologists and mining engineers in the country. Most are either retired or working outside the country. At present, there are only two schools offering mining engineering courses in the country – UP Diliman and Adamson University – and despite industry demand and generous scholarship benefits to deserving applicants, there are very few enrollees in the course. As such, PRC records show that in 2010 there were only 15 (out of 30 takers) who passed the Mining Engineering Board Exams while in 2011 the figure slightly improved to 32 board passers. As a result of this dearth in qualified professionals, some mining companies were forced to bring out of retirement mining engineers who are already in their 60s and 70s just to fill in the gap.

So my advice to young people who are currently in 3^rd or 4^th year high school is to consider your career prospects carefully. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Study hard and read on any subject that interests you. Develop your natural abilities and always strive for perfection. And most important of all, develop a work ethic and do not develop an attitudinal disdain for manual labor. Far from it, always welcome labor and always strive to give your best effort no matter how menial your work. As they say, the secret formula to success is really simple: work, hard work and more hard work.