TIP career centers to address labor mismatch

MANILA, Philippines - The mismatch between available skills possessed by graduates and those needed by industries remains one of the major problems that plagues the Philippine labor force, often leading to underemployment and unemployment.

In the April 2015 Labor Force Survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s underemployment rate was pegged at 17.8 percent while unemployment was 6.4 percent. The problem is compounded by the growing number of graduates who join the job market annually.

Reports by the Commission on Higher Education said there were more than 650,000 fresh graduates who joined the labor force this year alone.

Recognizing this problem, the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP), one of the leading engineering schools in the country, is spearheading a new program that links students with companies.

This year, TIP launched two of the first US-modeled career centers in the Philippines. These centers allow the school to maintain a more cohesive interaction with various companies and organizations, enabling its graduates to fast-track their careers by entering the workforce with the skills and training that are most suited to industry needs.

“The TIP career centers in our Quezon City and Manila campuses help enhance the value and desirability of our graduates to business by linking them with industries and ensuring they are equipped with relevant knowledge and skills, as well as industry-desired attitudes, behaviors and internship experiences,” said TIP president Elizabeth Quirino-Lahoz.

Modeled after the career centers of Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley in the US, TIP career centers were established with the technical assistance of the United States Agency for International Development through its Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) program, a five-year, P1.3 billion initiative that aims to spur inclusive economic growth in the Philippines.