DOLE pushing for Pinoy ‘knowledge workers’

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) are now pushing in for Filipinos who are “knowledge workers rather than mere manual workers.” According to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, this type of work is what Filipino workers should expect in the future.

“Knowledge workers are in. Mere employment is not enough. Employability is desired.

Trainable—not trained—recruits are needed. Life-long learning, not stagnant teaching, will drive new economies. Traditional jobs will have few takers; green jobs will flourish. Education for skill development and citizenship will be the norm, not education for personal fortune acquisition,” she said.

“The 21st century belongs to workers who possess HOTS, or ‘higher order thinking skills,’ and Filipino workers should aspire to have HOTS for them to become sustainably competitive and productive,” it was pointed out.

“HOT skills include critical and creative thinking, innovation and problem solving,” she added.

Baldoz said what the new Filipino workers should possess are cross-disciplinary knowledge, better communication and interpersonal skills, ability to work in teams, strong commitment and sense of personal responsibility, attention to detail; and must be flexible, highly-motivated, creative and self-adjusting.

She also said that even in education and training, learning and skills should be imparted in an innovative way.

“The challenges of the changing world of work are enormous, so much so that there is a need for Filipino workers now to change their outlook and ways of doing things to be able to face up to the challenges,” she said.

Pointing to the problem of jobs and skills mismatch, Baldoz said that that they have enough bases for its causes—such as inadequate market intelligence, nonresponsive training programs and inadequate investment on education resulting to poor quality of graduates.

She, however, believes that there is more to be done to address these problems—such as improving the quality of education and training, institutionalizing an effective assessment and certification system, making accessible and relevant technical and vocational education to a large number of the work force and delivering labor market information to the grassroots level in real time.

The Labor chief said that the Labor department’s Project Jobs Fit 2020—a market signaling activity, which aims to point the way to workers on what are the in-demand occupations in the next 10 years and the key employment generators—should influence students on what courses to take in colleges and universities.

The department, she said, is already bringing down these “signals” to the grassroots by working with the guidance counselors’ network in the country so that high school students can be informed and, thus, make correct career decisions.

Baldoz stressed that one of the reforms the department is pursuing is the creation of an integrated data warehouse by reengineering the PhilJobnet, the online government portal for jobs and skills matching being used by employers and jobseekers nationwide.

“The PhilJobnet will be transformed into an Integrated Human Resource Data Warehouse of labor supply information from the Bureau of Local Employment, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the Professional Regulation Commission, the Maritime Training Councils, and the National Maritime Polytechnic,” Baldoz explained.

The data warehouse—as a repository of information on skills certification and accreditation, licensure, and local and overseas employment data—will be enhanced by the National Skills Registry System (SRS). The SRS will be pilot tested in 39 local governments this November.

“The balancing act will require labor supply to be market-driven to meet specific market requirements, to be capable of driving the market to attract investors. And this balance can only be attained through real time delivery of real quality workers in ideal quantities,” she explained. –JOMAR CANLAS REPORTER, Manila Times