Press Release
12 March 2013
With graduation just around the corner, youth group Anakbayan today called on the Aquino administration to address youth unemployment.
“As a youth organization, we at Anakbayan are deeply worried about the youth’s prospects for decent jobs after graduation. Tila walang pagbabago sa ilalim ni Aquino pagdating sa kawalan ng trabaho. Noynoying ang graduates. Joblessness must be addressed to ensure a sustainable future for young Filipinos,” said Anakbayan National Chairperson Vencer Crisostomo.
Citing 2012 Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (Ched) data, Anakbayan highlighted the sheer number of jobs the country must produce to give its youth decent lives.
“Based on Ched data, the country produced 517,425 college graduates in 2012, while DepEd data shows that there were over 1,153,643 high school graduates. In contrast, based on Department of Labor and Employment data, only 344,000 full-time jobs were generated, and over 1.1 million part-time jobs were lost between October 2011 and October 2012, the period where we can assume that 2012 graduates have started looking for employment. The data shows that 2012 graduates are not gainfully employed. They are either unemployed or underemployed,” explained Crisostomo.
“Kulang na kulang talaga ang mga trabaho na nagagawa ng administrasyon ni Aquino. It is no wonder that the youth is increasingly looking abroad for employment to support themselves, instead of working here,” he said.
2011 NSO estimates show that those hardest hit by unemployment are the youth, with 50.4% of the unemployed being 15-24 years old, with 42% of the unemployed being college graduates.
Anakbayan points out that manufacturing and industrial-sector jobs are the ones that assure the youth of sustainable livelihoods, rather than service-sector and informal-sector jobs.
“One problem with the current job generation framework is that it puts too much emphasis on the BPO industry and expanding service sector jobs, rather than in the creation of Philippine industries. Sustainable jobs and economic growth is directly related to the establishment of national industries, such as manufacturing. Manufacturing and is also the sector that would benefit from the sheer number of qualified, world-class college graduates that we produce,” he further explained.
However, he said, the government’s “colonial, anti-nationalist” framework prevents such industry from being created.
“The Noynoy government is acting like a recruitment agency for foreign businesses, pressing down wages and subjecting our people to exploitative labor relations. It is not interested in developing local industries and sustainable jobs for our young people,” he said.
Reference:
Vencer Crisostomo, 09174416739, @venzie
