1 M new grads may have no jobs – TUCP

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) over the weekend said fresh graduates would have difficulty finding immediate employment due to additional hiring requirements. Most employers are demanding additional qualifications that would require more training for job applicants.

Manila , Philippines – More than one million college students will likely end up jobless after their graduation a few weeks from now, the country’s largest labor group said.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) over the weekend said fresh graduates would have difficulty finding immediate employment due to additional hiring requirements.

Most employers are demanding additional qualifications that would require more training for job applicants.

“This additional layer in the procedure could mean additional training which entails further cost and perseverance for the applicant. While those who fall through the cracks will become unemployed or underemployed,” said TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay.

Tanjusay also noted that the worsening job-skills mismatch can also derail fresh graduates’ chance to find employment after graduation.

Citing data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Tanjusay said very few applicants were hired on the spot in government-initiated job fairs for the past two years.

“Out of the 4,239,392 domestic and international job vacancies offered in 3,686 year-round job fairs activities held in 2014 and 2015 nationwide, only 391,088 were hired on the spot out of the 1,286,073 applicants,” he said.

“This job-skills mismatch crisis in the country has been going on and it continues to grow. Competition is getting higher, so employers are putting additional qualifications into the job descriptions,” he added.

Tanjusay also warned that heightened competitiveness at the job market, with little or no adjustment on the part of the learning institutions, make job hunting in the country worse than ever.

Records from the Commission on Higher Education showed there were 656,284 college graduates in March 2015 while records from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority showed there were 1.6 million individuals certified as of October 2015.

The DOLE identified 275 key occupations and 102 hard-to-fill occupations as part of the ongoing efforts to address the country’s high unemployment rate, particularly among the youth. - By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)

TUCP: 'Job-skill mismatch' faces 2016 graduates

Photo by Philippine Star

College graduates this year may find it difficult to land jobs because their skills may not match the employers' requirements, a labor group said Sunday.

"This job-skills mismatch crisis in the country has been on going and it continues to grow. Competition is getting higher so employers are putting additional qualifications into the job descriptions for them to compete. Heightened competitiveness at the job market without or little adjustment at the learning institutions is what makes this crisis thrive," Trade Union congress of the Philippines spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a statement.

The TUCP cited data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that shows only 391,088 out of the 1,286.073 applicants were hired on the spot in 3,686 job fairs held in 2014 and 2015.

Data from the Commission on Higher Education, meanwhile, showed that there were 656,284 college graduates in March 2015 and nearly 1.6 million individuals finished their training courses from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

"With employers adding more qualifications, graduates' credentials will be scrutinized longer," Tanjunsay said, "This additional layer in the procedure could mean additional training which entails further cost and perseverance for the applicant."

Tanjunsay said the increased standards being implemented by employers will eventually lead to graduates facing underemployment or worse, unemployment.

The DOLE has identified 102 occupations that are "hard-to-fill" or job vacancies which employers are having difficulty to fill because applicants do not meet the skills' requirements.

Hard-to-fill jobs include 2D digital animator, agricultural designer, bioinformatics analyst, cosmetic dentist and surgeon, cuisine chef, multi-lingual tour guide, and mechatronics engineer among others.

The department has also listed 275 jobs in-demand. These jobs, according to DOLE, have high turnover and replacement rate.

Such occupations include abaca pulp processor, bangus driver, bamboo materials craftsman, fish cage caretaker, mussel grower and reefman. —Kiersnerr Gerwin Tacadena/ALG, GMA News

For Central Visayas workers: Labor groups to meet on wage hike amount

Last October 10, 2015, the wage board decided to integrate the P13 in the minimum wage, so that no private sector workers in Metro Cebu received a salary less than P353 per day. Philstar.com/File

CEBU, Philippines - Labor coalition Nagkaisa will have a consultation this week with various labor organizations as to how much increase they will be asking for workers in Central Visayas.

Dennis Derige, Nagkaisa convenor and Partido ng Manggagawa-Cebu spokesperson, said whether they would seek a wage increase or not is no longer an issue for them.

“The issue that will be tackled is how much is the amount,” he said.

Aside from PM, Nagkaisa includes SENTRO ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Kilusan-Makabayan, Alliance of Genuine Labor Organization, PS-Link, Alliance of Progressive Labor-Central Visayas, among others.

It can be recalled that the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board-7 did not grant any wage hike last year; instead, it gave a P13-per-day increase in the Cost of Living Allowance for minimum wage earners in the private sector but for Metro Cebu only.

Last October 10, 2015, the wage board decided to integrate the P13 in the minimum wage, so that no private sector workers in Metro Cebu received a salary less than P353 per day.
Freeman ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch:

Prior to that, the Living Wage Coalition and ALU-TUCP filed for a wage adjustment of P145 per day and P92 per day, respectively, for all workers in Central Visayas. Both petitions did not prosper.

“We will fight that by this time, there should be an increase in the worker’s wages,” Derige said. — By Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/RHM (The Freeman)

Labor to next President: Save 5.5M child workers

Two labor federations on Sunday challenged the next administration to create a task force to implement laws against child labor.

Allan Tanjusay, spokesman for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and advocacy officer of the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), said “the good and effective thing that the incoming administration should do in solving the problems on child labor is create a task force.”

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) show that the Philippines is an employer of 5.5 million child laborers.

The youngest child worker is about five years old and the oldest is 17.

Of the 5.5 million, there are about 3.21 million who are engaged in the worst forms of child labor such as sex trafficking and drug pushing, according to PSA and DOLE.

The statistics authority said the 3.21 million child workers employed in the worst forms of child labor are also considered as engaged in “hazardous work.”

The International Labor Organization (ILO) explained that child laborers are those who have been “jeopardize[d] the[ir] physical, mental or moral well-being… either because of [the] nature [of the work that they are engaged in] or because of the conditions in which [the work] is carried out.”

“More specifically, hazardous child labor is work in dangerous or unhealthy conditions that could result in a child being killed, or injured and/or made ill as a consequence of poor safety and health standards and working arrangements. Some injuries or ill health may result in permanent disability. Often health problems caused by working as a child [laborer] may not develop or show up until the child is an adult,” the ILO said.

It added that hazardous work is the largest category of the worst forms of child labor because it can happen even in those jobs that appear to be decent such as in agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, service industries, hotels, bars, restaurants, fast-food establishments and domestic service.

The PSA said two-thirds of the 3.21 million are boys and one-third are girls.

To make the task force effective, Tanjusay said it “should be composed of government and non-governmental organizations [with] a primary focus on the current strategy of tapping the barangay [village] officials in conducting regular rounds on the identified areas where there are child laborers.”

“Also, the task force should make it sure that these children are enroled in school,” he added.

Julius Cainglet, vice president of the Federation of Free Workers, said labor groups, including FFW, have been working with the DOLE through the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC).

But, Cainglet admitted that the NCLC does not function as a regular agency but only acts as a coordinating body between DOLE and labor groups directed to implement the Philippine Program Against Child Labor.

The committee was formed in December 2011 through a memorandum of agreement among government departments, labor groups, and non-government organizations.

It has no funds of its own, Cainglet said.

According to Tanjusay, the NCLC has failed its purpose because it seldom meets on how it would consistently carry out anti-child labor programs of the government.

He disclosed to The Manila Times that the NCLC “is not working well. It rarely holds meeting.”

Tanjusay said the NCLC is “dormant” because no meeting has taken place in the last two years.

He accused the Aquino administration of intentionally neglecting the problem of child labor since 2010, pointing out that President Benigno Aquino 3rd never tackled the problem in his State-of-the-Nation Addresses. - by NELSON S. BADILLA, REPORTER / The Manila Times