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Opinion

EDITORIAL — Jobs, but no workers

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May 1, 2007 | 2:10pm
The nation marks Labor Day today with the usual focus on the adequacy of pay scales and workers’ benefits. Nothing wrong with this; satisfied workers tend to be more productive. But the nation should also start paying attention to a worrisome trend: a job surplus.
That’s not something from Ripley’s Believe It or Not. There are jobs out there that cannot be filled because the Philippine workforce lacks the required skills. This is due to several factors: the continuing exodus of millions of Filipinos for better paying jobs overseas, and the declining quality of the workforce left behind because of the slide in the quality of education.
The problem has been reported in various sectors in recent years. Thousands of jobs in call centers cannot be filled because job applicants lack the required proficiency in English to field calls. Private hospitals across the country have been forced to shut down because of the departure of nurses, doctors and other health professionals for jobs abroad — an exodus that continues at an alarming rate. Local airlines are losing pilots, engineers and mechanics to foreign competitors. Similar problems hound other industries.
Labor officials reported recently that workers with the necessary skills are lacking in the mining industry, hotel and restaurant services, agribusiness, shipbuilding and maritime services, construction, health services including medical tourism, and information technology services.
We know where many of the qualified workers are: around the world, over eight million Filipinos are working in hotels, hospitals, IT companies, commercial shipping vessels, oil drilling and mining operations, and even in private companies in war-torn Iraq. We lost many of our best teachers, including English teachers, to schools abroad years ago.
Health professionals have warned of a looming crisis in public health care unless the acute lack of skilled manpower in their sector is addressed soon. The education sector has been in crisis for years. Other sectors are expected to issue similar warnings. Unless the problem is addressed soon, a country that is one of the biggest exporters of workers may soon face a labor crisis.

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