PH should assess jobs skills needed for economy — lawmaker
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Salceda said the government should figure out the job skills needed for the Philippine economy.
Citing Philippine Statistics Authority labor data on professions, Salceda said that most fresh graduates lack hard skills due to the pandemic.
“In my conversations with the BPO (business process outsourcing) sector, one key skill issue is that while Filipino BPO workers, particularly in the voice sector, are very courteous and respectful, some of them lack the technical competence to efficiently solve the customer’s problem,” he stated.
While Salceda said there should be no debate about prioritizing soft skills over hard skills and vice-versa, Filipinos have “to figure out what kind of skills, in general, our economy needs to thrive and be resilient.”
“Certain skills are obviously more relevant: language proficiency, particularly in English, engineering, the computer sciences, and increasingly, medical sciences—especially in an aging world,” he added.
The lawmaker also noted that almost all professions in the Philippines increased in the number of employed persons year-on-year from February 2022 to February 2023, except the managers, skilled agriculture, forestry, fisheries and crafts, trades, and related workers.
