‘One in four college grads to end up jobless’

One in four college students is likely to end up jobless after graduation, despite government assurances that lots of jobs exist, an independent research group reported yesterday.

However, the Department of Labor and Employment said the root cause of the high unemployment rate was not lack of jobs but a “mismatch” between available jobs and the supply of workers.

Sonny Africa, IBON Foundation head researcher, said while an estimated half a million college graduates are set to join the labor force, the government is only expected to generate about 400,000 jobs.

“Figures from the Commission on Higher Education show that there will be about 447,847 college graduates for school year 2005-2006, but the latest Labor Force Survey indicates that only 98,000 wage and salary jobs were created in January,” he said.

Africa said the majority of college graduates who cannot find local employment may choose to work abroad, although data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration show that only 250,000 Filipinos are deployed for new jobs abroad annually.

“Applying these trend means this year’s graduates will be competing for only about 348,000 jobs which means nearly 100,000 fresh graduates may be unable to find work,” he said.

Twenty to 30 percent of the jobs available do not require college-level skills and thus force the new graduates to settle for jobs below their educational qualifications, he added.

Earlier, the Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) said the number of underemployed or those who expressed desire to seek additional jobs surged to a high 6.9 million last January.

The 6.9 million underemployed brought to 10 million the total number of Filipinos who are currently looking for work, including the current three million jobless Filipinos, LEARN added.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the problem is “structural unemployment,” and that the government is now undertaking measures to resolve it.

The government is implementing programs that would enable the country to generate the right workers for available jobs, she added.

Meanwhile, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) expressed strong opposition to proposals requiring commercial establishments nationwide to hire regular workers.

ECOP president Rene Soriano said a bill in Congress seeking to require firms to maintain 80 percent of their workforce as regular employees would violate the rights of employers.

“Employers have the right to choose who will be hired and denied employment and no employee can compel the employer to give him work against his will. This is oppression,” he said. —Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Star