Aspiring president Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and his UniTeam alliance will address the perceived education-job mismatch among Filipinos if they get elected in May.

In a statement on Friday, March 4, the UniTeam ​lamented that "The issue of education-job mismatches in our labor markets is a real cause for concern since workers continue to suffer a wage penalty."

"It is unfair because we see in the PIDS (Philippine Institute for Development Studies) study that 'overeducated' workers only earn 5 percent more for the extra years of schooling. These are serious inefficiencies that need to be addressed," the UniTeam said.

The political alliance was referring to a recent study published by PIDS that highlighted the scale of education-job mismatches in the country, showing that 39 percent of employed Pinoys are "overeducated while a quarter of them are undereducated".

Marcos Jr. and his running mate, vice presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said they recognize the urgent need to address this problem as it puts Filipino workers at a disadvantage, and negatively impacts our country's global competitiveness.

"Creating job opportunities has always been top of mind for the UniTeam, especially now that we are emerging from a pandemic. We plan to step up the number of government-funded job fairs to bridge the gap between job seekers and employers. We will ensure that quality jobs await those who will attend these events," they said.

"We also need to institute a system that will allow us to accurately determine current and future skill demand and supply. This highlights the importance of working closely with the stakeholders in this sector to come up with initiatives that would allow for better matching," they added.