Demand for nurses declining, DOLE chief says

Noting the oversupply of nurses in the country, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday said the demand for the occupation has been steadily declining over the years. "We have an oversupply of nurses. We’ve been sending signals that whether locally or overseas, the demand for nurses has declined," Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said after the Senate hearing on the DOLE budget. She said it would not be "surprising" if the country's nurses land in jobs which do not need the skills for which they obtained their licenses. "This is the mismatch we've been saying," she said. She said that based on the government's job portal, the top in demand occupations locally are call center agents, customer service assistants, accounting clerks, mechanical engineers, sales clerks, drivers, cashiers, production workers, technical support staff, and forklift operators for the skilled workers. But Baldoz said they also aim to increase the skills of Filipino workers based on the jobs that would be generated by President Benigno Aquino III's meetings with political, business, and civil society leaders during his week-long US visit. "We have to prepare the skills registry and also the competencies for each skill. We are working that out with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Commission on Higher Education, and Department of Education," she said. Nursing has been a popular undergraduate field of study in the past years due to the promise of well-paying jobs abroad. Just last month, more than 37,000 new nurses passed the licensure exam given by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) in July. (See: 37,679 pass nursing board exam; Ateneo de Naga grad is No. 1) The popularity of nursing as a field of study has led to the establishment of sub-par nursing schools around the country despite a government ban on opening of new nursing schools implemented six years ago. (See: Since a 2004 ban on new nursing schools, more than 120 have opened) New jobs Earlier in the day, Aquino said he was able to secure a commitment of at least 43,650 new jobs in the next three years, including some 4,500 in construction related jobs. To which, Baldoz said: "It is good news that will really help in the job generation because his goal is to really be able to generate jobs and address poverty that continues to confront us as a big challenge of the administration." She said this is part of the President's plan to give workers a genuine option on whether to work here or abroad. "He realized that this might not be done overnight, but I think he is really determined to address problems that hindered investments from coming into the country (which are needed to) generate jobs and address poverty," she said. Baldoz said that they have also engaged in "massive consultations" with different industries and generated a list of the kind of workers needed and the skills that they must have. "That has been disseminated to all schools and universities including [local government units], legislators, Cabinet secretaries and other policy makers," she said — with Andreo Calonzo/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV