DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Months after graduating from the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao, Heroine Marish Fernandez is still looking for a job—and facing an obstacle familiar to many new graduates: employers want experience, but gaining experience requires getting hired in the first place.
Fernandez, who earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and media arts, said she has struggled to find work related to her degree while also needing to support herself financially.
Her experience comes as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the youth employment rate fell to 84.3% in August 2026 from 88.3% a year earlier. The country’s overall unemployment rate rose to 5.3% from 3.9% over the same period.
For Fernandez, the challenge is not only finding a job but securing one that pays enough and allows her to use the skills she developed in college.
“The biggest obstacle I encountered while looking for a job was the amount of experience companies require from applicants,” Fernandez said in Filipino.
She acknowledged that employers want applicants familiar with the industry demands. But she questioned how fresh graduates could meet those expectations without opportunities to learn on the job.
Fernandez also worried that graduates could end up working outside their fields because jobs suited to their qualifications are difficult to find.
“Why spend four years studying communication and media arts if I will not be able to use it after graduation?” she said.
She entered college believing that internships, student leadership and a university degree would help her find work. Instead, she has spent time searching job websites and trying to determine whether the listings she encounters are legitimate.
For graduates without extensive experience or top academic honors, she said, finding work requires persistent searching and competing for limited openings.
Financial pressures add urgency
Fernandez’s situation has made the search more urgent.
Originally from outside Metro Davao, she still lives in the dormitory she occupied while studying at UP Mindanao. With her family’s allowance and financial support discontinued after graduation, she must find ways to cover her living expenses while continuing to apply for jobs.
As the eldest child, she also feels responsible for eventually helping support her family, including contributing to her younger sibling’s education.
Those obligations have made salary a major consideration, sometimes outweighing whether a job is related to her degree.
Fernandez said some graduates reach a point where their immediate concern is finding a job that can cover rent, bills, loans and other expenses, even if the work is unrelated to their training.
She observed that virtual assistant and customer service jobs have become options for graduates struggling to find work in their chosen fields.
While such jobs can provide income, Fernandez worries that financial pressure can push graduates away from the careers they prepared for and limit their chances to build relevant skills.
She urged employers to be more open to hiring fresh graduates and giving them with opportunities to learn and gain experience.
Companies may prefer applicants who can immediately meet their requirements, she said, but new graduates also need opportunities to show what they can do.
Davao Region’s employment figures
Regional data offer more localized view of the labor market, although the latest monthly figures for Davao Region available for this report cover July 2026 rather than August.
PSA Regional Statistical Services Office XI reported that Davao Region’s unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in July 2026, from 3.5% in July 2025. Its employment rate stood at 96.1%, down from 96.5% a year earlier.
The region’s underemployment rate declined to 9.0% from 10.5% over the same period. Underemployment refers to employed people who want additional hours in their current jobs, another job or a job with longer working hours.
The figures show why unemployment and underemployment must be distinguished: unemployment measures people without work who meet the criteria for unemployment, while underemployment captures people who have jobs but want more work or better-paying work.
In its preliminary 2025 annual labor statistics, the PSA also reported that Davao City had the region’s highest unemployment rate among its provinces and highly urbanized city, at 3.8%. Davao Region’s annual unemployment rate was 2.9%, while its underemployment rate was 3.9%.
The data provide context for the local employment situation but do not specifically measure the difficulties faced by fresh graduates or determine how many young people cannot find jobs related to their degrees.
Bayan-SMR calls for changes in employment policy
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Southern Mindanao Region (SMR) secretariat member Abdul Rauf Sissay blamed the country’s employment woes on the neoliberal economic framework he said the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promotes.
The system favors foreign multinational corporations and their local partners, which Sissay said profit from low labor costs and contractual work arrangements.
The prevalence of service-sector jobs, including business process outsourcing (BPO) and other white-collar industries, combined with low wages and contractualization, feeds unemployment and underemployment—pushing some Filipinos toward informal and platform-based work to make ends meet.
Sissay also faulted the government for underdeveloping manufacturing and other industrial sectors, which he considers essential to generating domestic jobs and advancing national industrialization.
His prescriptions: prioritize national industrialization and genuine agrarian reform, developing strategic industries such as steel and chemicals to support agricultural production, and reform the mining industry to serve local communities and public interests while maintaining environmental safeguards.
On labor policy, Sissay called for abolishing regional wage boards and replacing them with a national wage pegged to the recommended living wage, and repealing neoliberal and repressive labor laws, including the Herrera Law.
He also urged directing public funds toward education, health care and other social services instead of pork barrel allocations for politicians and other officials.(davaotoday.com)
