The Philippine unemployment rate jumped to 7.7% this January, up from 6.8% in October. That's substantial. More than 40,000 people lost their jobs at the start of the year, mainly from the manufacturing sector.
Government's official line is---job mismatch.
Government is blaming the education sector for not producing enough graduates to fill in current manpower or pooling requirements of companies. So, government has now found a very convenient excuse to put or redirect the blame for its inability to create a nice job environment.
Blame it to the schools. And, in all honesty, government might be right.
Majority of courses being offered right now are in the health sector. Thousands apply to become nurses or medical therapists instead of practical skills courses. For example, many companies need plummers, miners and welders. There's a scarcity of these people because everyone's either jumping to the mariner's job or trying to become nurses.
Yet, government must at least admit one thing---our economic performance is turning dismal. Our business environment is losing its bullishness. Many foreign companies are thinking twice of investing here due to bureaucratic red tape and graft and corruption. Imagine, you're a foreign investor and one Cabinet secretary approaches you and tells you straight in your face that you can't do business here without giving him 2 million pesos?! Philippine star Jarius Bondoc just wrote about it a few days ago.
sad...14 M na daw ang unemployed ngayon.
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