Why Labor Mismatch exists in the Philippines?

Many fresh graduates face the realm of unemployment and job hiring, wherein job applicants are in dire need to secure their future. Therefore, the long standing issue of lack of adequate work force has struck the nation.

Labor mismatch exists where certain job applicants apply for a job, which is not the applicants' area of expertise. Moreover, a certain rise of demands for specific jobs (like the BPO industry, mechanical work force, and the like) that makes job mismatch dance into an upsurge. Here are the probable reasons:

Labor mismatch exists where certain job applicants apply for a job,
which is not the applicants' area of expertise.

1. High setting standards for the job position

This is one of the major reasons why job mismatch exists. Employers of certain companies creates an job opening for a certain position; whereas, most of them requires the applicants to possess college degree to apply for the position. Moreover, a certain time frame of should be met to be suitable for the job, and job applications had strict screening process. On the contrary, this is reasonable for supervisor/managerial jobs... but not to some jobs positions really require job experience, as long as the applicant is trainable.

Furthermore, most of the applicants' educational attainment nowadays range from high school graduate (not K-12) to college undergraduates (vocational/associate graduates included). However, few of which possess high-end skill sets like computer literacy, high language proficiency, software skills/proficiency, and the like, which these had a hard time to secure a job through job openings offered at job fairs and classified ads (regardless if online or in print media).

Thus, most of these underqualified (in terms of educational attainment, yet skilled) applicants had no choice but to look for a job that is either high paying and in demand jobs that is off-tangent in their skill sets; or look for any job for the sake of everyday survival.

2. Contractualization

The existence of contractualization saves the revenue of many companies in terms of benefits and tax to contractual workers to do the same regular work for less of the salary. Moreover, contractualization renders as a probationary period for employees to become a regular part of the company. Nevertheless, the contract expiration (or ENDO) for five months subjects the employee to renew the contract over and over again, and never had the chance to be regularized despite the hard work and dedication rendered to the company.

On the contrary, contractualization has a positive light for those who wish to expand their working experience, and to work on other companies than the previous ones. Furthermore, this is an advantage to experienced job applicant to apply for a higher and better position than the previous one, which offers high salary to support their needs.

3. Less job openings on rural areas

There are few job openings on provincial areas because of fewer job opportunities in the province than those in the nation's capital. Moreover, provincial rate is different than the NCR rate, which is Php 444 to Php 481/hour, contrary to Php 300+/hour. Therefore, people are forced to migrate to NCR for a good pay rate.

Furthermore, the struggle of migrating and applying for a job can be twice, or thrice, harder than in the province because the aspiring applicant should have a relative living in Manila, and have enough pocket money to go to and fro on places around Makati, Ortigas, Quezon City, and other relative areas where hiring agents are anywhere, and job fairs are open.

4. High demand only on specific work sector

Most of the in-demand jobs are call center agents (colloquially known as customer service representative) by major business process outsource (BPO) companies like Alorica, TransCom, and others. Few of which requires a specific educational attainment to apply for positions in BPO companies. Other in-demand job sectors include Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Management, and Multimedia.

These are the list of in-demand sectors in the labor field.
Image courtesy of JobStreet.com

Thus, no wonder why the pop question to kids and teens of "what you want to be when you grow up" always points on becoming a famous celebrity like being a singer, or being an actor/actress, has been a part of the Filipino culture.

5. Many workers go abroad

Because of the growing pains of looking for an ideal job in the Philippines, many Filipinos desire to work abroad instead. However, applying for work abroad requires a local work experience of at least two (2) years before migrating for work. Furthermore, the salary of an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) working on a normal position ranges from Php 40,000 to Php 100,000. Therefore, the migration rush is real for a high-risk, high-reward to put their lives on the road to prosperity.

However, applying abroad is not easy because of the necessary requirements prior to work. Moreover, applying on unauthenticated agencies would endanger career, time, and money into human trafficking and employment scams.

Since most of the openings abroad are the Middle East, job applicants are more cautious to apply for the job because of employers' maltreatment toward their workers. Thus, most of the applicants are scanning for job availability online, instead of travelling into agencies to save time and money.

6. Labor discrimination

Labor discrimination exists either if the applicant is underqualified for the job entry, especially if the applicant is differently-abled (persons with disability). Despite having a lot of technological advances to seek a fair game for those who had disabilities, Human Resource representatives and employers would always seek for those who will pass their standards, and will never give opportunity for underqualified/disabled applicants.

Moreover, the applicant would land a job if he/she is neither computer-literate, college graduate, nor had a backer (backdoor referrer) to get into a job. The jobs he/she would be hired on grunt jobs (like factory worker, construction worker, and the like).


It's hard to admit that labor mismatch is inevitable... if the standards of hiring job applicants will change.

Free VIP Tickets on Ozine 2017 by Riku PH

NOTE: All images used on this article are courtesy of Riku PH.

Ozine Fest is an annual anime convention organized by Otakuzine Anime Magazine's editorial staff. The said magazine is published in the Philippines catering the latest trends in Japanese culture, including cosplay, J-music and anime.

Image courtesy of Riku PH Facebook Fan Page

This year's Ozine Fest will feature Mitsuko Horie, a J-Artist behind Sailormoon, Doraemon and Voltes V's theme songs; Takayuki Miyauchi, the man behind your favorite Tokusatsu theme songs; and more guests. You can only hear them on the VIP section of the event where you can hear them performer, or do a meet-and-greet. However, rates had skyrocketed to Php 300 (for normal pass), and VIP rate would possibly hit at Php 500 - 700 range, as retrospected on the previous Ozine Fest 2016 that features the J-Rock band, FLOW.

However, rest your fears aside because Riku has something in store for those who wish to hear your dear Horie-chan and Taki-kun on stage, live and upfront.

A screenshot of Riku PH's announcement of VIP Ticket giveaway. Courtesy of Riku PH.

Riku has a lottery to giveaway two (2) VIP passes for Ozine Fest 2017 TokuSpirits. In order to join the lottery, you have to follow the instructions on her post. Since the spirits of April Fools was high when the post was created, she assures that the VIP Ticket lottery is fool-proof, and real. Therefore, it's a high-risk, high-reward lottery for those who will join.

Winners will be announced on Thursday, 6th of April 2017... one day before the event.

Yoo-Go! Patreon rush

Yesterday was April Fools' Day. It's really tricky that I punned my friends at Star Mall Shaw Boulevard because I could not attend to "Tomodachi no Wa", which is an Otaku Connection event. However, I was more into something that meets the eye: Establishing my Patreon account.

Why Patreon?

I already had a fixed goal set on creating a Patreon account. However, it took months to further found the achievement grounded yesterday. Since many song cover artists on YouTube had Patreon accounts, I think it wouldn't harm if I do the same. After all, I am fond of writing songs and singing (it depends on the song if it would hack the notes or not)... which gives me a notion to create an account.

Just for everyone to know, I used to create song covers back in college (2010) as means to "serenade ladies". It is funny to read/hear that I do it for that purpose, and yet... nobody got the good answer to me on a Boolean data parameter of acceptance. I tried creating a song cover on SID's song "Natsukoi" as a Valentine present to a certain college classmate. What made me learn to play "jingo jungle" on a song cover lyrics was making pranks on serious songs when I was a kid. The thing that Bubble Gang used to do create parody out of popular songs.

The song covers

When I started creating a set of song covers, I created an album of 14 songs (2011) that took me a month to finish it, along with the recording and production/post-production of the songs. I used a special, yet simple to use program to commence my song covers.

The tricky part is that I can record, and produce (and do post-production) song covers on a computer shop with good microphone output; and to make the covers released like it came out of the studio. However, the entire process requires patience to complete a cover.

As of now, I had created a few song covers, and there are still more to come.

Here's a sample of my English song cover of GATE II ~Sekai wo Koete~, with an English title of "GATE II ~Beyond the World~" 

DISCLAIMER: I only own my voice. No copyright infringement intended.

I was a bit dismayed on Google because I could not access my original account. However, I was able to create a backup account to sustain the need for speed (of uploading the covers).

I would like to invite everyone to be my patron on Patreon. I would not only be happy but also I could dish out a compilation of song covers in the future for those who wish to have a copy of the songs.