Bernabe, Patricia Agatha S.

11933704
ECOLITE V25 November 7, 2019

The Impact of Tertiary Education to the Employment Rate in the Philippines

Overview

The study entitled “Mas Mahal Sa UP Kaysa DSLU: Isang Alternatibong Pagsukat sa

Gastos ng Edukasyon” (Tullao, 2015) mainly focused on the tertiary education. The government

emphasizes more importance to the tertiary education in the Philippines. For this reason, there is a

need for them to know and measure the expenses allotted for it. In addition, there are no appropriate

tools in order to measure the expenses in education for a number of reasons. According to Tullao

(2015), there are several reasons discussed as to why the government is giving more attention to

tertiary education namely 1) tertiary education doesn’t just benefit individuals who graduated from

it but also extends to their families and in different fields of the society, 2) there are still individuals

who do not have enough funds to support their education, 3) tertiary education will expand social

benefits such as increased productivity among the laborers, and 4) to bridge research and service

thus improving the quality of education and the service to the community.

Analysis

The theory of human capital is based on the assumption that education highly contributes

and is a necessity that would help enhance the productivity and efficiency of a population

(Almendarez, 2011). The theory basically states that investments in individuals can be measured

numerically through the economic value that these individuals are able to contribute to the

community as a whole. The study (2015) stated that the government gives much importance to

tertiary education because such education expands the social benefits in a community. Thus, the

article will be analyzed through the Human Capital Theory, focusing on the tertiary education in

the Philippines’ economy.

 The Philippines’ participation in higher education has expanded greatly in recent years

(Macha, Mackie & Magaziner, 2018). In fact, the gross enrollment rate increased from 27.5 percent

in 2005 to 35.7 percent in 2014. Additionally, the total number of enrolled students in higher

education increased from 2.2 million in 1999 to 4.1 million in 2016. They suggested that President

Duterte’s decision in 2017 to make education at State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) tuition-

free may be a way to further boost the enrollment rate. As of 2017, there are 1, 410, 985 graduates

in the Philippines (Commission on Higher Education, 2019). However, according to a study (2017)

by Aspiring Minds, only 1 out of 3 Filipino college graduates is “employable”. This means that

about 65% of the graduates in the Philippines lack the right skills and enough training to qualify

for the jobs. Therefore, there is a need for an improvement in terms of overall employability since

65% of the graduates are not qualified for the job they are after. Furthermore, data (Figure 1) from

Philippine Statistics Authority (2017) presented that college graduates are ranked second to the

most number of unemployed in the Philippines. Moreover, the PSA has estimated the average

unemployment rate in January, 2019, at 5.2 percent, of which, 20.9 percent are college graduates.

O’brien (n.d.) stated that teriary

education is considered to be one of the key

drivers of economic growth, prosperity, and

competitiveness in an economy. Based on the

analysis above, although there is an increase in

the number of tertiary education graduates, the

Figure 1. Unemployed Filipinos educational attainment. level of unemployed tertiary education

Adapted from “Unemployment rises under Duterte’s watch”,
Pinoy Exchange, 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2019 from graduates also increases. According to Tan and
https://www.pinoyexchange.com/discussion/941694/unempl
oyment-rises-under-pres-dutertes-watch
Paqueo (1989), “the Philippines has the per
capita GNP of a lower middle income country, but the educational profile of a much more

developed country. Sicat (2018) stated, “there is still a lot of ‘surplus’ labor that needs employment

opportunities.” Even though there is an increasing number of graduates, such graduates do not

qualify or meet the needed qualifications of the labor market. Therefore, there is a tightening in

the labor market and is still in a fragile state of development (Sicat, 2018). In relation to the theory

of human capital, it can therefore be recommended for the government not just to focus on the

financial investment but also on the development of the quality of education in the Philippines

(Khidhir, 2018).
 References

Almendarez, L. (2011). Leroy Almendarez -- Human Capital Theory: Implications for Educational

Development. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from

https://www.open.uwi.edu/sites/default/files/bnccde/belize/conference/papers2010/almen

darez.html

Aspiring Minds. (2017). Philippines' National Employability Report 2017 (pp. 9-10). Retrieved 6

November 2019 from https://www.aspiringminds.com/thankyou/?url=

Commision On Higher Education. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from

https://ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019-Graduates-by-Discipline.pdf

Khidhir, S. (2018). Improving education in the Philippines. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from

https://theaseanpost.com/article/improving-education-philippines

Roach, E. (2018). Education in the Philippines - WENR. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from

https://wenr.wes.org/2018/03/education-in-the-philippines

Sicat, G. (2018). Is the labor market tightening? | Philstar.com. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from

https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/04/25/1809025/labor-market-tightening

Tullao & Dela Croce. (2015). Mas Mahal sa UP Kaysa DLSU: Isang Alternatibong Pagsusukat sa

Gastos ng Edukasyon. Retrieved November 5, 2019, from https://www.dlsu.edu.ph/wp-

content/uploads/2019/03/alternatibong_pagsukat_sa_gastos_ng_edukasyon.pdf.