Effects of Job Mismatch Presentation

Effects of Job Mismatch:

An Education-Work Discrepancy

I. Introduction

Job mismatch cases in the Philippines is so common among today’s workforce, hence more and more employees become restless and frustrated with their current jobs and career paths. Job Mismatch is one of the cases that the country is experiencing, wherein a professional individual has job that is really not compatible with what he/she have graduated. Having a job that somehow doesn’t match the field or expertise you have studied and mastered.

When we look into the definition of it, Job Mismatch refers to the situation where the workers’ skills and education are not adequate for the demands of jobs in the current economy, it is also a mismatch between the skill the worker possess and what the job requires. Mismatch exists in the labor market in the form of educational or skills mismatch, education-job mismatches.                    

Having a degree or a College Diploma is everyone’s dream, to achieve their goals, to earn for a living, and to be financially stable, but it doesn’t stop there. Everyone deserves a job that actually fits the course they have taken, to practice and to apply the knowledge they have learnt. It is just worrisome and saddening that we are currently experiencing this kind of dilemma. Entering college, doing works, studying subject with relation to your course, and finishing the battle of reality are not that easy for students and also for the parents.

We must and need to know why this situation or case occurs. It is worrisome for us, most especially in the corporate world, that it could lead to a higher rate of underemployment if there will be no solution for it.

B. Provide background on the topic to explain why it is important

Why it is important to talk about and consider this growing issue? According to PSA or Philippine Statistics Authority, as of March 11, 2016, the labor survey showed that underemployment, worsened from 17.9% last year to 19.7% this year. Well, according to the americanenglish.com, “The Department of Labor and Employment of the Philippines commits to what seems to be a never-ending cause of providing enough decent jobs for Filipinos. It may be pleasing to hear that more than a hundred thousand jobs are available to date, yet it cannot be denied that numbers are still growing in terms of both unemployment and underemployment.”

        Americanenglish.com gave the most possible and top reasons why job mismatch is currently happening and never ending, and why the job mismatch issue remains controversial to this very day, here are those as observed by most career experts:

• Wrong choice of college course – either strong parental influence in decision-making, or taking a course pertaining to a job that is “in” (not because the interest is there)

It is actually really happening that the individual isn’t deciding for the course they really want, they just choose the course because of parental pressure and persuasion. Filipinos are known for honoring their parents and Filipinos are family oriented that’s why parents’ decisions and persuasions have a really huge impact to their children in terms of deciding their courses and career path and the result of it is uninterestedness, and instead of choosing the right or the job that the course you have taken is related with, the individual will choose his desired job and the job he really wanted to have, that will result to job mismatch considering that his educational attainment doesn’t fit the job, but there he has this true desire and innate skill, but still mismatched.

• Being too money-driven – Applying for jobs that offer above-average compensation packages, like those based abroad, despite not possessing the necessary skills

Another reason why Filipinos rather choose to be job mismatched, because of the attitude of they call it “easy money”. Money is now considered as a real necessity for you to live in this world, to have food, shelter, clothing and so on, because without money, you cannot have anything, unless you are in province wherein you can just pick and harvest vegetables you planted and have food, but when we consider shelter and clothing, you still need money. Money is a medium for barter exchange for any products and services.

This is also the reason why most of the Filipinos are looking and finding for jobs abroad, because the compensation and benefits are actually better compare to our country. It helps Filipino people to earn a living and help the families they left here in Philippines to provide their needs and other than that, they are financially saving and satisfied. It is a huge help for the Filipinos, but it is somehow one of the top reasons why Job Mismatch is currently happening.

• Being too choosy – unreasonable conditions or demands set by jobseekers when looking for or applying to jobs.

Being choosy is not an issue, but a severe choosiness is a big deal. Filipinos deserve to be placed in a position or job that they truly deserve, but if a person is actually being choosy unreasonably then it is must be a contributing factor why job mismatch is happening. Demands and conditions are always there, but once you are looking for a job, it is not a bad thing to aim for a great position job, but if your expectations and demands are too unfavorably to be real, then it is a huge problem. Lowering demands and conditions could solve the problem, it is within the person and we cannot control their mindful thoughts, it is a personal factor that a study really can’t interfere, but an action of lowering expectations, demands, and conditions could help solve the problem and contribute positively to the growing issue of job mismatch that country and countrymen is currently experiencing.

• The overqualified stigma – work experiences are beyond employer’s requirements for the job applied for – a situation that is not new to employees who wish to switch careers or lower their standards just to avoid unemployment.

Based on experiences and encounters, I know people who are working on a job that their qualifications or their achievements are too over the qualifications of the job they are actually working on. They are avoiding their status of being unemployed and also the huge factor of it is a need to earn income. They are just deciding to choose low-level position jobs just to have a work and not being a burden to the family, which is for me, a major factor that contributes to the rate of underemployment.