WHY IS THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE RISING IN THE PHILIPPINES?

A recent survey conducted by SWS and IBON Foundation revealed that more than 11 million Filipinos are unemployed as of mid 2013. This number includes only those who are actively seeking employment. Could you imagine how many Filipinos are not earning had these surveys included all the unemployed? Philstar.com published a report stating that over 21% of the unemployed are college graduates. Must be frustrating for the graduates and more so for the parents who spent hundreds of thousands of pesos for their children to finish college.  According to IBON, the Philippines have the worst unemployment rate in East Asia and blame it to the present administration because it has not changed the failed economic policies of past administrations. So where do we go from here? The worst is still to come unless we open our minds and adapt to change which is happening NOW.

We are seeing hundreds of thousands of college graduates getting into the job market every year, and together with former workers who are now out of employment, they compete to land into job openings. Unfortunately, labor demand cannot keep pace with the ever growing labor supply, thus worsening the unemployment problem. Majority of these jobseekers will remain to be jobseekers for quite some time.

The need for human services in the business world has changed. About 3 to 4 decades ago, people are necessary components in production. People are still in the corporate world today but in a much smaller scale.  Technological advances have already rendered many jobs obsolete. Many more job positions especially in the service and manufacturing sectors are threatened by computers and robotics technology. Job positions that we used to believe cannot be handled by computers are now also under attack. Just think of the driverless car being developed by Google. The information age brings with it CHANGE, and could be for the better when we talk about productivity and progress. However, it also has its downside and unfortunately, the workers are in the receiving end.

Other causes of high unemployment rate can be traced to economic downturns, mergers, downsizing, unfavorable pay and working conditions.

Now let us go back to the parents and their children. With the circumstances that surround us, it is best that before spending big money for college, they look 5 to 10 years into the future and determine if such career that the child wants to pursue will benefit from change. Otherwise, change plan. At any rate, college degree nowadays does not give you the advantage that graduates had several generations ago. Our graduates of recent times have employee mindset influenced by tradition. They see employment as their only way to make a living. In general, they have closed their minds on other income generating activities. Sadly, employment cannot give the financial and time freedom they deserve.

My next blog entry will give you tips on how to make money without being employed. Let’s improve the unemployment problem. Let’s stop looking for jobs.