Philippine gov’t advises students to take up course related to emerging industries

The Philippine government urged on Saturday the college students to take up courses related to the needs of emerging industries where they stand a good chance of being employed immediately after graduation.

The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz made a call to prevent an increase on the country’s unemployment or underemployment, which stood at 6.4 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively, as of October last year.

“One of the major drawbacks that confront the Philippine labor market is jobs-and-skills mismatch. People earnestly seek jobs but overlook the fact that their skills do not meet the requirements needed by employers. It is for this reason that we are trying to address the problem early on by advising our dear students to choose their schools and courses wisely,” Baldoz said.

She said there are four industries which are seen to provide the most number of employment opportunities in the long term. These include creative industries, strategic farming and fishing, power and utilities, and renewable energy.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) reported that large numbers of the 2.9 million students enrolled for the academic year of 2010-2011 were still concentrated on certain courses, to wit: business administration and related courses with 785,305 students, or 26.73 percent; education, science and teacher training, with 400,912 students, or 13.65 percent; and medical and health allied with 363,147 students or 12.36 percent share.

“This uneven concentration of students in these fields contribute to jobs-skills mismatch after graduation,” said Baldoz. <Xinhua>

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