In the Face of Youth Unemployment

AUGUST 28, 1200 – 1300 HRS

EPISODE 5

In the Face of Youth Unemployment

Voice Out!

Early unemployment of our young people is a perennial problem that could cause damage to their professional and personal lives and also bring harmful repercussions to the nation as well. According to the study, “PROBLEMS FACED BY YOUNG FILIPINO WORKERS” authored by Jimeno Damaso to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and International Confederation of Free Trade Unions-Asian and Pacific Regional Organisation, half of the unemployed workers in the country belong to the age bracket of 15 to 24 years old. There are already 1.7 million young Filipinos that are out of school and out of job. International statistics also show that there are more unemployed college graduates than those who did not finish their education. According to International Labour Organization, there are 88 million unemployed youth worldwide. To quote ILO Director General Juan Somavia, “The energy and talent of the most educated youth the world has ever seen is being wasted”.

For this episode, we were fortunate to have two very reliable and intelligent guest resource speakers and youth employment advocates. First is Ms. Catherine Kamping, of Save Me Movement, founder of Philippine Youth Employment Network (PYEN) and former Secretary General of Youth for Sustainable Development Assembly. Second is Ms. Manuela Longgo, Italian Representative from the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (UNMDG).

Catherine said that there are a lot of factors to be taken into consideration when it comes to youth unemployment. One of them is that there is a big gap when it comes to the requirement of the labor force and the capacity of young people in relation to the available quality of education and training before they become part of the labor force, as well as the capacity of the labor force to absorb our new graduates.

“The pressing challenge is to lower the unemployment rate and provide young people employment or alternative livelihood if the labor force could not really absorb all the graduates, taking into consideration the out of school youth.”

The main thrust of PYEN is to create synergy among the stakeholders and to mediate between the different initiatives of the government and NGO’s here and at the international level to create additional employment or facilitate alternative livelihood for young people. Before Catherine ended her term, PYEN achieved in organizing the different stakeholders together and they created an action plan to promote employment through training, conventions and build partnership for young people to access resources they need.

Catherine just came from Egypt as one of the Philippine Representatives for the Youth Employment Summit that was attended by youth organizations and leaders worldwide. The main goal was to provide alternative livelihood for the young people by 2012 with the target of about 500 million.

We should stop blaming one another. We need to establish adult – youth partnership, among these young people who needed employment and among those who can provide employment. We should view young people not as “pabigat” for the country but as resources that we need to tap and capacitate.

Manuela Longgo of the UNMDG shared with us the un-evident yet the same serious problem of the high Youth Unemployment Rate in Italy, despite being a developed country. The labor demand is lesser than what educated and skilled people could offer. Very specialized people settle for low salaries even if they got the job they should have. The market is rigid and there is not much exchange and openness for the youth. In the Philippines, Manuela says, there is more problem in the system organization. There are a lot of people who are very educated and skilled and there are a lot of possibilities for employment. The challenge is the creation of partnership and multi-partnership between government, private and civic sector. The social and service sector like the environmental functions could also provide employment.

This is also the first time Al Ian Barcelona joined us in the studio and shared his insights. He pointed out the Filipino Social - Cultural Mindset that has to be corrected. As a college professor for three years, Ian has always stressed that education is more than a ticket for a blue-collar job someday. Also, unemployment could be reduced to employment. This is the opportunity for the Filipino Youth to aim not only for employment after graduation but also for business or entrepreneurship that could also provide jobs for others.

According to Manuela, there is a program of the International Labour Organization to facilitate and build up the youth business sector and employment.  

          Every one of us also shared our own experiences and difficulties in looking for jobs. Kristin and Suzette attributed God’s grace to help her land her official first job, here in DZME. Jeif suggests employers should not make it too stiff for the young graduates to land the jobs they are qualified for and provide at least a six-month performance evaluation. In our RIBYU SA RADYO segment, Jeif shares the difficulty of looking for jobs even in web sites suited for that purpose.

We are all hopeful that the young Filipinos would find the jobs they really want; go for their passion and where they’re good at and make a living out of it. Lloyd and Ian reiterated the adage “Opportunities come not only for those who wait but for those who seize them.”

Bilib Kami Sa’yo!

          Being a singer is a career that young Filipinos are very much involved in. 18 year-old Clarisse King from the sing and dance girl group KeeKkayz (Dyna Music Philippines) was our featured guest.

At age 9, Clarisse was a radio voice talent and started singing at contests. For five years she was part of the defunct TV show Pen Pen de Sarapen (with Sarah Geronimo) where she was a five – week champion. (She even sang a portion of one of her winning peace, Anak ng Pasig). She shared with us the hardships of going through auditions and even the uncertainty of the showbiz career.  It was fortunate for her to be once again be given a break, by becoming one of the Keekkayz, a more wholesome girl group who gave us the song Daisy Otso, among other novelty dances. Clarisse assures that she would re-enroll next year on a college communication course. Clarisse was interviewed by Jeif and Kristin.