Youth Unemployment in the Philippines

The rising youth unemployment in the country coupled with skill mismatch is significantly affecting the economic development. Youth unemployment in the Philippines increased from 3.16 million to 3.20 million; from 2011 to 2012 (the data was calculated using the World Bank Data). There is no need to further explain the negative effect of unemployment to the welfare of a country. In a scenario, when one is unemployed the mobility of a person is affected unless he reduced the savings of the family. If the unemployed reduced the savings, short term negative impact would not be felt right away but would materialized in the long run (in the future); this will have a big consequence – economic growth will not be sustained (or could even turn to a negative growth).

Skill mismatch is one of the employment issues that need to be addressed by the government. There is no specific data for skill mismatch, but it is estimated to be a significant portion of labor force (employed and unemployed). Skill mismatch happens when a person is working in a job that is not his expertise. For example, you are a graduate of an electrical engineering course, yet, you work as a call center agent. The person could have been more productive, could have contributed more in the economic growth, if he worked as an electrical engineer. Skill mismatch happens when there are limited types of job available in the market. Another scenario for skill mismatch is that a person can’t find a job because his skill does not fit with the available jobs in the market.

People now a day can’t expect that jobs will just land on their pockets – you need to look for it; and if you can’t find one – you need to upgrade your skills and create your own.