Soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and time management are becoming increasingly critical in today’s workplace, yet according to both government and private sector officials, it is uncommon among Filipino job seekers these days.
Director Patrick Patriwirawan Jr. of the Department of Labor and Employment’s Bureau of Local Employment said soft and core skills were increasingly seen as essential by industry stakeholders as they play a crucial role in improving employability and workplace productivity.
He said that their agency is also keeping a close eye on hard skills, particularly those aligned with emerging industries and technological advancements. Those include skills in medical technology, engineering, and information technology, with a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence.
“Those are important competencies or skills we’ve seen that are not readily available in our labor market,” Patriwirawan said.
A significant gap has been observed in those entry-level proficiencies, with communication skills one of the most in demand, highlighting the growing need for stronger comprehension and problem solving abilities.
Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara said that they are updating the Philippine Qualifications Framework – a reference system of national standards of qualifications earned by individuals educated and trained in the country, as a response to the issues. “The changes there include providing additional qualification for senior high schools. This is because our president wants our graduates to have better credentials, whether when it comes to national certificates or certificates for technical vocation,” he said.
The need for essential skills, whether soft or hard, has to be met by the country’s educational system as it strives to produce graduates that are of sufficient quality and are able to compete with their peers in the local and global job markets that continue to rapidly evolve. As we work on the most basic of education requirements, such as the level of reading comprehension necessary in order to beat functional illiteracy, these additional skills that are on most employer’s wish lists have also to be developed.
The development of these many missing skills and capabilities is something that our Education sector simply cannot wish for, but will have to deliberately plan and work on, which means including it in the curriculum and the priorities of the country’s educational system that has been in desperate need of reforms and improvements.
Our education system has a lot of catching up to do. Another new school year gives it the opportunity to do better. Hopefully our public and private sector officials are up to the gargantuan task of developing those skills and capabilities among our youth.*
