Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Rep. Salceda's office)



High inflation is more likely making it difficult for Filipinos to land jobs, and not so much as the reported lack of "soft skills" among graduates in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This can be gleaned from Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda's reaction on Wednesday, April 12 to the Commission on Human Rights' (CHR) claim that new graduates don't have the necessary soft skills and thus find it hard to gain employment. "The observation is consistent with global studies which indicate that learning did suffer as a result of being forced to isolate and study without the company of peers," Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said of CHR's findings. "I wouldn't immediately jump into the conclusion, however, that the lack of 'soft skills' is primarily the source of youth unemployment," he said. "The issue of finding it hard to land jobs exists in the context of elevated inflation. Food, fuel, and power are expensive - so we need to keep their prices low to keep wages competitive," explained the economist-congressman. Soft skills are defined as personal traits that help employees thrive in the workplace. Hard skills, on the other hand, are the job-related knowledge and abilities that workers need to perform their job duties effectively. "The case for a soft skills deficit can be made for the loss of managers, although economic conditions and firm structure likely explain that number better," Salceda said. Citing labor data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Salceda said that 941,000 managers lost employment between February 2022 and February 2023. "But the loss of jobs in skilled professions is a clear and undeniable problem of hard skills," he noted. The same data showed that 108,000 Filipinos lost their jobs in skilled agriculture, forestry, and fisheries during the same period. The same is true for 30,000 in crafts, trades, and related workers. "Now, this is no debate about whether we should prioritize soft skills over hard skills. What we should instead do is to figure out what kind of skills, in general, does our economy need to thrive and be resilient," the Bicolano said. "Certain skills are obviously more relevant: language proficiency, particularly in English, engineering, the computer sciences, and increasingly, medical sciences -- especially in an ageing world," he said. "Certain soft skills are also essential, especially those relevant in entrepreneurship and innovation," he pointed out.