While amendments to the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) law are expected to further institutionalize job-matching services in all local governments, and therefore ease the country’s joblessness profile, the reality remains there are still fewer jobs being created compared to the number of new job seekers turning up.
Still, the PESO law recently amended will be able to amplify the gains that were achieved by this piece of legislation since it was signed in 1999, something which was noble-sounding at most, but definitely nebulously structured.
Even then, the PESO law was able to achieve something worthwhile since its inception. According to press releases, the PESO offices that were voluntarily set up by local governments were able to assist 1.6 million youths in getting jobs during the last 15 years.
This has perhaps helped in bringing down the country’s unemployment figures in recent years to about six percent. But this still translates to about 2.9 million people without jobs, with an estimated 50 percent within the 18- to 25-years-old age bracket and belonging to the rural areas.
More jobs may be expected in the coming years with the amendment’s implementing rules finalized early next year. By then, all local governments will be obliged to set up a PESO office funded and staffed through their respective internal revenue allotments.
Match-making
The law’s amendments will also solidify efforts to collect employment data from business establishments, both present and future, which will likewise help not only the local PESO units but also schools and universities in planning and fine-tuning their respective programs.
With local PESOs fully operational, these should act as a one-stop authority on job placements that can competently match-make whatever job opportunities are available in the local environment with those seeking for work. Think of this as the biggest – and most credible – job placement agency in the locality.
This should help businesses, with complementary help by universities and schools, to find the right manpower for the jobs that are often left unanswered for long periods of time despite the surfeit of young people looking for work.
The local educational system, on the other hand, will be able to plan for the kind and quality of courses they will offer at the tertiary level. This would minimize, for example, having nursing graduates end up doing clerical jobs in offices.
Revitalize agriculture
Of course, we must not forget the PESO is not a panacea, or an end-all solution to the country’s unemployment – and more so, underemployment – problem.
You can’t solve these inequalities by streamlining employment networks; the country has to create more jobs t to take in the army of graduates that swell the ranks of unemployed in the second quarter of every year.
For this reason, the government must really look at revitalizing agriculture where the bulk of those unemployed and underemployed have been noted. The agricultural sector may not provide the most significant contribution to the economy – yet, but there is potential in it if given enough government support.
It’s too late for the Philippines to think it can be a manufacturing capital in the region now that China has efficiently streamlined its processes and infrastructure to become the world’s center for manufacturing. Even Thailand and Malaysia have given up on competing against this giant.
And despite the record number of youths being employed in the business process outsourcing sector in recent years, this will not be enough to turn the tide of unemployment and underemployment prevalent outside the country’s major urban centers.
Underemployment and poverty
Much as unemployment is a key indicator that tracks the country’s efforts towards improving the economy and bringing more people into the fold of inclusive growth, underemployment is a much bigger problem that comes hand-in-hand with poverty.
Farmers, fishermen, forestry workers, laborers and unskilled workers are among those that have grappled, sometimes for a lifetime, with the uncertainty and seasonality of work, which provides a sporadic stream of income to support the family.
This is a basic reason why many children are not able to focus on getting a good education despite this being compulsory and free. In rural areas most specially, children are expected to drop out from classes when temporary work is available in farms.
Government statistics place underemployment at a conservative 20 percent of the population, which is already high by world standards. Those belonging to this segment plagued by poverty have little chances to improve their lives, and ironically, continue to spawn offspring that will join them in such uncertain predicament.
By bringing development to the rural areas, there will a new world of opportunity opened to more Filipinos who deserve better lives. Sadly, though, agriculture is not an area that is considered a priority in the government’s agenda.
Expanding PESO coverage
While the latest amendment of the PESO law will give the muscle and fuel to create a reliable facility for job placement among the youth, it could very well be expanded to answer for the needs of the underemployed, which means people well beyond 25 years of age.
This sector needs help, perhaps even more than the young graduates of secondary and tertiary education, in getting better-paid jobs. They are a bigger labor force, and one that already carries the weight and responsibility of other people in the families they have created.
In parting, I would like to reiterate the need for government to give more attention to encouraging the agriculture sector’s growth. In a world where competition has become keener, we have to give some priority to those who need help more.
This is what parents should do with any of their children not having the better instincts to survive in this world. This is what a government should undertake for its citizens who have the least resources to fend for themselves to become more productive.
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