Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano called on the education sector and parents to advise prospective college students to enroll in 'traditional job creator' courses to increase their chances at employment upon graduation.
The senator noted that according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and a study entitled "Project Jobfits 2012", the services sector will be the main creator of jobs between years 2012 and 2020.
He suggested that students should instead be encouraged to enroll in courses related to "traditional job creators" in the services sector, i.e., cyberservices, health and wellness, tourism, banking and finance, transportation and logistics, and wholesale and retail trade.
Cayetano also cited agribusiness and mining as other big job makers identified by DOLE.
He pointed out that enrolling in oversubscribed courses like nursing, education and criminology could only worsen the unemployment situation in the country since more graduates will end up competing for jobs in industries with limited openings.
"We need to make sure that when these students graduate in the future, they will already have the necessary skills to gain employment in sectors that have the capacity to accommodate them. It will be a waste of valuable human resource if we don't at least try to lead them to a future with more employment opportunities," he said.
The minority leader urged the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and DOLE to jointly launch a career guidance symposium in as many schools around the country.
"Students need to be made aware that there are other courses for promising careers that they should consider enrolling in.," he said.
He also pointed out that higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country need to improve skills development of their service sector-related courses in order to improve their students' chances at being employed.
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