Gov’t issues order to address job-skills mismatch

THE AQUINO ADMINISTRATION has issued an executive order establishing an educational and training system to address the jobs-skills mismatch in the country.

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Executive Order (EO) 83, which took effect yesterday, created the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF).

Department of Education (DepEd) Director for communications Anna Cristina M. Ganzon said the framework will “include a unified education and training system that will largely contribute to matching workers’ skills with industry needs.”

She said the PQF aims to establish national standards to measure competencies of students.

These standards will determine whether a student “finishes a technical-vocational course or a professional degree,” Ms. Ganzon explained.

The framework also seeks to aid graduates in moving to the labor market.

“Through increased recognition of value of Philippine qualifications, there will be easier mobility of workers both nationally and internationally,” the director said in a text message.

The implementing rules and regulations of the EO 83 shall be issued within 60 days starting yesterday by the PQF National Coordinating Committee, chaired by the DepEd.

The committee will also be attended by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), and the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC).

Consultations with the industry sector will be held “to ensure the alignment of educational outcomes to job requirements,” EO 83 read.

The contents of the licensure examinations will also be reviewed by the PRC and CHED to “align” them with PQF.

The PQF will also create an eight-level “qualifications descriptors” in terms of knowledge, skills and values, application and degree of independence, the law showed.

Jobs-skills mismatch is one of the factors being blamed for the unemployment situation in the country.

Last month, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said the number of jobless Filipinos remained practically the same in July compared to a year ago.

Results of the July 2012 Labor Force Survey showed that unemployment rate in July was 7% or about 2.8 million, practically unchanged from the 7.1% jobless rate in July 2011.

The Philippines has an estimated 63.1 million population aged 15 years and over, while 40.4 million of them are in the labor force, corresponding to a labor force participation rate of 64%.

“Of the estimated 37.6 million employed persons in July 2012, those who worked in the services sector comprised the largest proportion, which posted more than half or 53.3% of the estimated employed persons,” the NSO said. Those in the farming sector were the second largest group, accounting for 30.9%. — MJOC, Businessworld