A Mismatch: Education and the Job Market

I. Executive Summary

Graduates have trouble to find jobs in the market particular local and schools try to convince students that they can find better jobs abroad if they graduated there. The former CHED Director termed the school administrators as liars and proposed those involved with it be consider criminal for corruption of minds, and be charge for economic sabotage for failure of promised job as well as the job recruiters that lured job applicants for money.

Many graduates work in a field not of their calling or profession. They landed into care giving job and house servant helpers, security guards and construction workers. This shows that education does not guarantee opportunity to find good paying job.

We have to focus on the fundamentals of our elementary and high school curriculum or subjects taught. The Philippine educational system is composed of three departments; the higher education is with CHED and the elementary and high school with DepEd, and technical-vocational with TESDA. Between supply and demand analysis, the economic situation of the Philippines' requirement for entrepreneurship is high, where professional degree most caters for healthcare rather than business.

In Philippine situations, most parents wanted that their children do something to deserve an education to the best schools they can bring in because to work for a good job and employment rather than to be in business. In contrary, the Chinese people and parents strive to give their children the best training and education so that they can put up their own business. This is the real truth of how parent's pattern of decision in relation to careers and professional courses. Chinese traders controlled and regulate our country's economy today while Filipino Professionals work for them to be employees.

Again, where does the mismatch start? Is it a product of wrong policy and decision of whom? Or this is a case of overlapping government agencies functions, and who should be responsible for such mismatches? Parents who send their children to school and the person who decide what particular degree their children had to enroll? Or the school administrators and owners because of their personal desire to earn more, offer irrelevant courses and admitting anyone interested as long as they can afford to pay the tuition fees.

The problem of unemployment in this country is not the lack of employment opportunities but the lack of qualified workers for jobs available in the market. There are lots of demands for certain position but our graduates or labor supplies are unfit for these demands. We have more and more educated work force yet the quality of jobs held by the majority of college graduates has deteriorated as an increasing number of college graduates are being employed in the sales, service, agriculture and production related sectors.

II. Statement