Employment prospects bleak for new graduates

MANILA, Philippines - Employment prospects appeared bleak for graduating college students and other young workers.

In its annual global employment trends report, the ILO said young workers in the Philippines and other countries in South East Asia and the Pacific are facing substantial difficulties accessing decent and productive jobs prior to the economic crisis and the situation has worsened as a result of the economic downturn.

“The South-East Asia and the Pacific region, which includes the Philippines, has a number of economies that are highly dependent upon foreign trade and investment flows. Accordingly, among the Asian regions, it has been the hardest hit by the crisis in terms of reduced economic growth,” the ILO noted.

In the Philippines, the ILO said, the unemployment rate in 2009 only increased slightly to 7.5 percent but it could have been worse without stimulus measures taken by the government, workers and employers.

ILO said the global youth unemployment worldwide reached 13.4 percent in 2009 from 1.6 percent in 2007. The growth in unemployment was the biggest since 1991.  

“It is possible for the economy and employment to grow but the rate of growth is likely to slow or dip, so it is crucial to have job protection policies in place,” ILO director Linda Wirth said.

“It is urgent to establish wide coverage of basic social protection schemes to cushion the poor against the devastating effects of sharp fluctuations in economic activity,” Wirth added.

But Labor Secretary Marianito Roque maintained that employment opportunities remained bright for both young and adult Filipinos this year.

“Those were mere projections and we have proven all projection wrong in 2009 because the government, particularly us in the Department of Labor has been working hard to address the unemployment problem,” Roque said. Roque added that DOLE has been embarking on various programs to ensure employment for graduating college students and other jobseekers in the country.

For its part, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) called on all presidentables to come out with clear agenda to resolve the increasing number of unemployed Filipinos.