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MANILA, Philippines – The country faces a post-pandemic jobs and skills gap that may leave 2.4 million skilled jobs vacant and unfilled if there are no significant reforms in worker education and training.
House Formas y Medios Speaker and Albay Representative Joey Salceda issued the warning, pressuring lawmakers to implement training and education reforms to meet the needs of new and emerging businesses.
In his report entitled “The Coming Skills and Employment Gap and the Case for Education and Training Reform,” he estimated that some 2.4 million skilled and well-paying jobs, or 6 percent of the workforce would remain uncovered in a decade “if education and training systems are not significantly improved.”
Salceda added that at least 20 million new and existing workers would have to be trained, retrained and re-equipped to maintain the balance between supply and demand for skilled workers.
In a statement, he warned that many jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic “will not return simply because there will no longer be a need for them, even if companies recover.”
“We have all moved online. Expect permanent painful contractions in the low-skilled service sector and a drag on real wages due to the oversupply of unskilled labor, unless we are willing to make significant policy changes now, ”Salceda said.
He added: “The conclusion of my report is that we need to prepare the workforce for a new economy. Our current education and training system, where we value diplomas and not skills, just won’t work. “
Adapt to change
Salceda said that the new formula for the new training and education systems must be a combination of access, quality and adaptability.
“We have to train as many Filipinos as possible to be highly skilled workers who can also adapt very quickly to new changes in industries,” he said.
If no significant reforms are made now, the country faces a situation in which “unskilled workers cannot find work, while jobs requiring skills cannot be filled with workers.”
“This will be a silent crisis because it will only become visible gradually and in households whose workers cannot find work and in businesses where qualified jobs remain vacant. Yet overall, it will definitely bog us down, ”Salceda said.
He cited growth in the business process outsourcing sector, which is expected to grow between 3.5% and 7.5% annually over the next three years.
“Without a reliable stream of well-trained talent for these growing industries, however, they will eventually shift to our competitors in India, Pakistan and even increasingly Vietnam,” he said.
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