Project JObs Fit: Addressing jobs and skills mismatch

Amidst the unemployment problem, certain jobs are hard to fill and remain unfilled for unbelievably long period. As a result, 41% of employers in a recent survey struggled to find qualified candidates due to a dearth of talent.

At first glance, we can easily attribute the above scenario to a mismatch in jobs and skills which is perennial problem in the country. Quite surprisingly, however, such scenario is not in the Philippine setting but in the world’s largest economy, the United States.

Apparently, the survey, by a U.S. recruitment firm, indicating the difficulties of U.S. employers in filling vacancies also pointed to skills and jobs mismatch as the culprit that hit American jobseekers who have trouble finding employment.

In the Philippines, a similar survey by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) showed that one in every four establishments in the country had experienced some difficulties in recruiting qualified applicants.

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said the BLE’s Integrated Survey of Establishments (BITS) showed that the top five hard-to-fill occupations are accountants and auditors, computer professionals, commercial and technical sales representatives, mechanican engineers and professional nurses.

The survey defined “hard-to-fill occupations” as those that “have presented employers with the greatest recruitment difficulties.”

The survey also showed the following hard-to-fill occupations which remained unfilled for more than a year in non-agricultural establishments with 20 or more workers: air traffic controllers; aircraft pilots; navigators and flight engineers; personnel and human resource development officers; geologists and geophysicists; pharmacists; industrial robot controllers; decorators and commercial designers; bacteriologists; pharmacologists, pathologists and related workers; technical and vocational instructors/trainors; safety, heakth and quality inspectors (vehicles, processes and products); architects, photographers and image and sound recording equipment operators; and science and mathematics teaching professionals.

Roque attributed the problem in filling up hard-to-fill occupations or in-demand jobs to jobs and skills mismatch, noting that the unemployment problem cannot be attached solely to lack of jobs. He said there is abundance in employment opportunities both in local and overseas job markets for Filipinos that are hard to fill due to lack of qualified applicants.

The DOLE Chief, citing firms surveyed by BLES, noted that the problem would persist unless resolved. With this in mind, he said the DOLE as the primary agency mandated to promote gainful opportunities for the workers pursued relentless efforts to resolve the problem. It came out with the Project Jobs Fir: The DOLE 2020 Vision which is seen to finally address the skills and jobs mismatch and make a dent on the unemployment problem.

Roque said Project JObs Fit seeks to identify the preferred skills, or “new employment generators of drivers”, in priority industries per region up to 2020. He said the DOLE has just wound up the conduct of regional consultations with stakeholders and has consequently begun the review of existing literature and national and regional development plans as part of efforts to come up with the Job Fit road map.

The road map, he said would be the basis of the education sector and other concerned stakeholders in the development of appropriate curricula and career materials and the provision of training and educational scholarships aimed at meeting the skills requirements of industry in the next 10 years.

“The ideas is to guide students and new entrants to the labor force on which course to study or training to undergo so they will find jobs more quickly after graduation or training,” Roque said. –Philippine Star