More high school graduates are now opting to work rather than pursue higher education, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.
The DOLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) said there were close to two million “new entrants” or new workers in the country for the past two years.
The same data also showed a large proportion or 29.4 percent of new entrants to the labor force were high school graduates as compared to college degree holders who only posted 23-percent share.
According to BLES, high school graduates who were employed for the first time and those who looked for work for the first time came at 28.6 percent and 31.6 percent, respectively.
The share of first time unemployed new entrants who were college graduates seeking work was slightly higher at 32 percent than high school graduates at 31.6 percent.
Labor officials said most college graduates were probably unemployed “by choice,” meaning they are waiting for better job offers.
Based on the data gathered by the BLES, the 887,000 new entrants to the labor force in 2006 and 888,000 in 2007 accounted for 2.5 percent of the 36.21 million workers nationwide.
Those who sought work for the first time but did not find a job posted at 231,000 million while those who were employed for the first time came at 657,000.
The employed new entrants peaked in the month of July while low points were recorded during October rounds in the two-year period.
As expected, most of the new entrants were in the age bracket 15-24 years old. They accounted for 81-percent total new entrants in 2007.
More than half or 52.1 percent of the new entrants were males while 47.9 percent were females.
The bulk of 66.9 percent of the new entrants posted were in the services sector, specifically in the wholesale and retail trade at 22.8 percent.
The agriculture and the industry sectors recorded almost the same share at 16.8 percent and 16.3 percent, respectively.
More than one-third or 37.4 percent of the employed new entrants were laborers and unskilled workers, mostly in mining, construction and manufacturing industries.–Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Star
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