Most job vacancies accepting senior high grads offer minimum wage work — DOLE

MANILA, Philippines — Just around 1% of job vacancies in the Department of Labor and Employment’s K-12 job fair in 2022 went to senior high school graduates, an official said on Monday, with most work available to them limited to the service industry.

DOLE Undersecretary Carmela Torres told the Senate higher, technical and vocational education committee on Monday that senior high school graduates landed just 116 out of the 9,000 job vacancies advertised through its December 2022 job fair, while the rest went to applicants with higher educational backgrounds.

Torres said: “116 (senior high graduates) were hired basically as cashier, sales agent and service crew.”

“So what we’re saying is that these are the areas where they can be hired. These are the areas where we can enhance their competencies,” she said in Filipino.

But even as the job fair was specifically held for senior high school graduates, Torres said, most of the available work went to applicants with college diplomas due to companies’ preference.

“The qualifications (required by some companies) are different. The applicant has to be a college graduate. That’s why others are not hired,” the labor official said.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo asked Torres: “I thought you said the job fair was for senior high?”

“Many job vacancies are for senior high school graduates, but there are also vacancies for college,” Tulfo said. 

Torres did not state the specific job fair but a post on DOLE’s Facebook page indicates that an event called "Pasayahin 2022 K-12 Job Fair" was held on December 1. This job fair included the participation of more than 70 local employers and 9,379 job vacancies.

According to another Facebook post by DOLE's National Capital Region office in 2022, the companies that participated in the job fair were from business process outsourcing, manufacturing, banking, retail & trade industries, among others. 

The job fair also included advertisements for vacancies in the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

‘What’s the purpose of K to 12?’

Tulfo asked Torres whether DOLE could come up with a job fair exclusive to senior high school graduates “to ensure that there are industries that can make use of those who finished senior high school.”

Senior high school graduates’ lack of employment opportunities was the main concern during the Senate panel’s hearing on legislative bills on the proposed Enterprise-Based Education and Training to Employment Act.

“(Jobs that are) typist, receptionist, you have to be a college graduate. If you were a senior high (graduate), you would be turned off,” Tulfo said. 

“What’s the purpose of K to 12? So maybe this is where DepEd should come in,” the senator added.

Tulfo pushed for longer work immersion hours for students similar to apprenticeship programs, where trainees embed with companies for months and not just weeks. 

These programs should “(provide) a guarantee that by the end of their immersion, they will be employed and will receive regular pay and benefits. And the company who accepted that senior high school graduate will receive incentives,” Tulfo added.

According to the Department of Education’s tracer study of its senior high school graduates, only around 10% of senior high school graduates landed a job, while 83% continued to higher education.

In April, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian flagged the Civil Service Commission for accepting graduates of both the old high school curriculum and the K to 12 program, which he said "violates" the K to 12 law.

RELATED:  Senior high graduates not job-ready? Senator points out government’s own lapses in hiring