Here in the Philippines we also experience those negative and positive effects of technologies. One of the biggest problems of our country is the skills shortage. In relation to technologies, many are hoping that these technologies could help us in providing solutions to this problem. I have found out an article talking about the IT skills shortage in the Philippines and according to apecdoc.org that a Canada-based research firm held that the average growth of IT labor in the Philippines stood at 10 percent in the last 10 years and is predicted that it would grow steadily at 3 percent in the next five years. The study identified that the skills shortage in Python, VBScript, Perl, XMLi and VB.net programmers in the Philippines which is due to the low incident count coming from the general IT population. And the study also shows that it would be increasingly difficult to source with the skills in SAS, SAP, Lotus Notes and MySQL. The Philippine government and other sectors are now helping out to in finding some solutions to these problems. In order to solve skill shortage in the Philippines one solution for this is through trainings and education. Many companies are now extending their recruitment and training in order to reduce the IT skills shortage in the country. The IBM for example is offering its IT Education Services which will help create a competitive advantage by improving the performance of the employees. Through this kind of training IBM believe that this will reduce the IT skills shortage.
Another factor for this skills shortage in the Philippines is unemployment. Many have graduate college but got no job after the graduation. Because of the lack of job opportunities in the country many skilled Filipinos are forced to migrate to other countries and work abroad. And to address the issue of unemployment in the country, the government is already making some actions to solve this problem. Initially, the government has invited several investors to invest in the Philippines and to give Filipinos a good job in their own country. It is good to know that because of that the percentage of unemployed Filipinos have fallen down. But sometimes many Filipinos have ended up with underemployment. Many have been hired but have not get the job that suite their skills. The article “Round pegs for round holes” at eccp.com highlighted a story about underemployment.
[i]There is this story about a fresh college graduate hired by a supermarket. On his first day at work, the graduate was greeted by the manager who gave him a broom and said: "Here, start sweeping."
"But I’m a college graduate!" protested the young man.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot about that. Here, I’ll show you how," said the manager.
We can’t deny that many Filipinos have been hired but does not match their skills. They have been forced to apply for a job even though the job is not match to them. Mostly skilled Filipinos ended up working in call centers right now. And according to a study there is less than 12,000 applicants on the average are hired as call center agents every year. Even professionals who have been working abroad as an Overseas Filipino Worker ended up underemployed. Some Professionals such as teachers apply for a work abroad and get a job as a factory worker. It is better to be underemployed than to be unemployed but obviously there is less job satisfaction in being underemployed.
To address this issue the ECCP, one of the organizers of the Foreign Chambers Employment Expo have held a job fair that which also supports the ECCP’s “Human Capital Building Program” will help Filipinos find the job and to help match more Filipinos with the appropriate jobs.
“ECCP is not only engaged in training but also in addressing the mismatch between education and jobs. ECCP brings the private sector closer to training/academic institutions and supports new industries that are aligned with the competitive skills of Filipinos.”
“ECCP seeks to develop various channels to deliver the skills necessary to support industry growth especially in emerging business sectors such as BPO. Such channels focus on training and business services that effectively generate and deliver the important skills over the short term period. “
The training services held by ECCP includes management and leadership training, technical skills training, dual education and internship by the private sector. Similarly, those job seekers who have fallen short of the requirements set by business process outsourcing companies and other critical industries are encouraged to apply for the PGMA Training for Work Scholarship program. According to transcription.mixph.com, the people who are qualified to avail the program are the ‘near hires’ or job seekers who were not able to fully meet the skills requirements of the BPO sector and other industries experiencing skills shortage. They are then be given a scholarship certificate and endorsed to a TESDA.
Currently, many organizations like TESDA train many Filipinos and according to eccp.com that many organizations have train about 40,000 students for mainly technical jobs annually. And it is good to know that they are willing to further expand the short and mid-term training if industry clearly identifies their requirements and is willing to contribute to this endeavor
Another factor for this skills shortage in the Philippines is unemployment. Many have graduate college but got no job after the graduation. Because of the lack of job opportunities in the country many skilled Filipinos are forced to migrate to other countries and work abroad. And to address the issue of unemployment in the country, the government is already making some actions to solve this problem. Initially, the government has invited several investors to invest in the Philippines and to give Filipinos a good job in their own country. It is good to know that because of that the percentage of unemployed Filipinos have fallen down. But sometimes many Filipinos have ended up with underemployment. Many have been hired but have not get the job that suite their skills. The article “Round pegs for round holes” at eccp.com highlighted a story about underemployment.
[i]There is this story about a fresh college graduate hired by a supermarket. On his first day at work, the graduate was greeted by the manager who gave him a broom and said: "Here, start sweeping."
"But I’m a college graduate!" protested the young man.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot about that. Here, I’ll show you how," said the manager.
We can’t deny that many Filipinos have been hired but does not match their skills. They have been forced to apply for a job even though the job is not match to them. Mostly skilled Filipinos ended up working in call centers right now. And according to a study there is less than 12,000 applicants on the average are hired as call center agents every year. Even professionals who have been working abroad as an Overseas Filipino Worker ended up underemployed. Some Professionals such as teachers apply for a work abroad and get a job as a factory worker. It is better to be underemployed than to be unemployed but obviously there is less job satisfaction in being underemployed.
To address this issue the ECCP, one of the organizers of the Foreign Chambers Employment Expo have held a job fair that which also supports the ECCP’s “Human Capital Building Program” will help Filipinos find the job and to help match more Filipinos with the appropriate jobs.
“ECCP is not only engaged in training but also in addressing the mismatch between education and jobs. ECCP brings the private sector closer to training/academic institutions and supports new industries that are aligned with the competitive skills of Filipinos.”
“ECCP seeks to develop various channels to deliver the skills necessary to support industry growth especially in emerging business sectors such as BPO. Such channels focus on training and business services that effectively generate and deliver the important skills over the short term period. “
The training services held by ECCP includes management and leadership training, technical skills training, dual education and internship by the private sector. Similarly, those job seekers who have fallen short of the requirements set by business process outsourcing companies and other critical industries are encouraged to apply for the PGMA Training for Work Scholarship program. According to transcription.mixph.com, the people who are qualified to avail the program are the ‘near hires’ or job seekers who were not able to fully meet the skills requirements of the BPO sector and other industries experiencing skills shortage. They are then be given a scholarship certificate and endorsed to a TESDA.
Currently, many organizations like TESDA train many Filipinos and according to eccp.com that many organizations have train about 40,000 students for mainly technical jobs annually. And it is good to know that they are willing to further expand the short and mid-term training if industry clearly identifies their requirements and is willing to contribute to this endeavor
Reference:
5. http://www.apecdoc.org/node/6356
6. http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--en/WCMS_008083/index.htm
7. http://transcription.mixph.com/medical-transcription-training-for-work-scholarship/
8. http://www.eccp.com/infocus.php?id=307
3 comments:
there is a plenty of solutions in answering the said shortage, it is just that, these solutions are to be carried out into actions...yet they remain written solutions...
the Philippines should work out on increasing the number of ICT skills in order for our country achieve its goal
Thanks for sharing and keep posting more new information.
Regards,
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