ANGARA: ADDRESS MISEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT

Senator Edgardo J. Angara urged the government to address not just unemployment, but more so underemployment and misemployment through its job-creation programs.

"Often, we think that if we can generate more jobs, we will effectively combat poverty," said Angara. "But we fail to consider the quality of the jobs that we create."

Underemployed Filipinos are those who desire additional hours of work in their present job or in an additional job, or altogether want a new job with longer working hours. This accounts for 19.4 percent of the workforce, or 7.13 million Filipinos--much higher and much more alarming than 7.2 percent or 2.87 million unemployed.

Misemployed Filipinos, on the other hand, are those whose training and skills are not suitable to the skills required in the jobs in which they end up. This usually results from the surplus of graduates from certain programs, and shortage of graduates in others.

"The Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) registered a 48.1 percent passing rate for the Nursing Licensure Exam," cited Angara. "What will happen to the rest of those who did not qualify?

"Even those who passed the board already have a hard time finding proper employment because of the surplus in nursing graduates that we have continued to generate over the past few years," added the lawmaker, who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture. "This is why many of them end up taking jobs that are unrelated to their training.

"The job-skills mismatch is also one of the main reasons behind the dwindling quality of goods and services." lamented Angara.

According to him, if the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is to effectively address these alarming issues, they must push for more enrollment in areas that have greater potential for greater employment, including technical-vocational courses and information and communications technology.

"The DOLE should provide a periodic evidence-based study of employment trends, as well as the overall framework that will make education and jobs placement in sync." Angara concluded.