ADB study on RP job-skill mismatch validates calls for innovative labor-education strategies - Jinggoy

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada today said the latest study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) noting that schools in the Philippines produce the wrong kind of skills for the labor needs of the country further validated his calls for innovative strategies in ensuring labor and education compatibility.

The study report, written by ADB economist Hyun H. Son and released on Tuesday, noted that such labor mismatch has been hurting the Philippines' economic growth, and that Filipino labor productivity increased by only less than 7.0 percent between 1988 and 2000, while those in neighboring Asian countries like Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand went up by as much as 30-50 percent.

"This labor mismatch problem has been pinpointed time and again in several studies and by employers themselves as the main reason why our workers have not been able to maximize available local and overseas job opportunities," Estrada, chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, and of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment, said.

The ADB study noted that "those with higher education (in the country) have crowded out the less educated in terms of job opportunities ... which in turn has lowered the price for skilled labor over the period."

Son said "the current education sector does not supply the right kind of skills that are demanded by the labor market ... and that going beyond universal coverage in education is imperative because what is required is an expansion of the supply of the right kind of skills."

Estrada said, "We must come up with innovative measures to solve the job-skill mismatch in the country because clearly, the government's conventional approaches toward the issue have not produced desired results," adding:

"For initial steps, the government must identify the most in-demand skills locally and overseas for the next three years, and even beyond; re-orient the country's education and skills-development strategy accordingly; and, implement a comprehensive apprenticeship program for students and fresh graduates."

"For our workers to be truly competitive, our government must give them the right theoretical and practical education, because investing on the right education is the best investment in human capital," Estrada underscored.