MANILA – Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV on Tuesday urged the government to immediately address the growing number of unemployed Filipino youth.
Aquino said the unemployed Filipino youth hit 1.32 million or half of the total 2.7 million unemployed Filipinos as of January 2015. The number was higher compared to 6.0 percent recorded in October 2014.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), out of 6.6 percent, 49.1 percent of the unemployed Filipinos belong to the age bracket of 15 to 24 years old while around 31.6 percent are from 25-to-34 age range.
”This is alarming considering that a lot of young populace have no work,” Aquino, chairman of the Senate committee on youth, said.
To help address this problem, the lawmaker filed Senate Resolution No. 1268 seeking to encourage concerned government agencies to create employment opportunities for the youth.
”Imagine, 1.32 million Filipino youth cannot provide help for their families and for our country,” Aquino said.
Aquino proposed in his resolution for the government agencies to formulate programs to address the needs of young Filipinos, including the unemployed youth, workers in vulnerable employment and young entrepreneurs.
He underscored the need for Department of Labor, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the National Economic Development Authority to collaborate and coordinate more to address the problem.
“In order to strategically and significantly promote job generation for young Filipinos and propose interventions on economic policies, there should be a coordinated policy framework to address the challenges of youth unemployment,” Aquino said.
He encouraged the government to prioritize programs that will enhance labor market information, skills training and upgrading, online job matching and entrepreneurial skills.
“Through the years, there has been a mismatch between the available jobs and available skills in the labor force, which is considered as one of the main reasons for youth unemployment,” Aquino said.
He added that the government should encourage the youth to go into business amid the growing economy of the Philippines.