DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 295 554 HE 021 492

AUTHOR Arcelo, Adriano A.; Sanyal, Bikes C.

TITLE Employment and Career Opportunities after Graduation:
A Study on the Transition from College to Work in the
Philippines. IIEP Research Report No. 61.
INSTITUTION United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization, Paris (France). International Inst. for
Educational Planning.
SPONS AGENCY Canadian International Development Agency, Ottawa
(Ontario).; Norwegian Agency for Development Aid,
Oslo.
PUB DATE 87
NOTE 256p.; A study conductei as part of the IIEP research
project on Higher Education and Employment. For
related documents, see HE 021 489-493.
AVAILABLE FROM International Institute for Educational Planning,
7-9, rue Eugene Delacroix, 75116 Paris, France.
PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143)

EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.

AASCRIPTORS Career Choice; *College Graduates; *Economic Climate;
*Education Work Relationship; *Employment
Opportunities; Foreign Countries; Higher Education;
*Income; Public Policy; Student Attitudes; Student
Characteristics; Unemployment
IDENTIFIERS *Philippines

ABSTRACT
The experiences of college graduates in the
Philippines in obtaining employment were studied based on the
responses of 1,284 students (out of a sample of 2,598). Findings on
an earlier study--Higher Education and the Labour Market (HELMS
I)--are summerized. For the current study (HELMS II), information is
provided on: parental background, educational background of
graduates, reasons for dropping out of college, reasons for taking
longer than 4 years to complete college, assessment by students of
the content of instruction, assessment of the method of instruction,
the percentage of unemployed graduates, occupations of employed
graduates, percentage of graduates who are employed in the public and
private sectors, the distribution of graduates in public sector
employment, employment by industrial classification, mean income of
graduates by occupation, mean income by industrial classification,
mean income by college type, and mean income by academic program.
Economic conditions that affect employment are discussed, with
attention to the gross national product of the Philippines, per
capita income, unemployment, and inflation. Policy implications of
the study findings are considered. (The questionnaire used in this
study is appended). (SW)

*************f*********************************************************
*
* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
* *
from the original document.
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 transition -from college to wor

U.S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUC IONAL RESOURCES INFORMAL ION
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HAS BEEN GRANTED BY his document has bee reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating d
Minor changes have been made to improve
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PoInts of view or ondnons stated .n this dOCu.

mend do not necessarily represent official
OE RI position or policy
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
 Employment and career
opportunities after graduation

3
This study, undertaken jointly by the IIEP, the Ministry of Education, Culture and
Sports, the Philippines. and the Fund for Assistance to Private Education, Manilla,
is part of the IIEP research project on 'Higher education and employment'

IIEP Research Report No. 61

Employment and career

opportunities
after graduation
A study on the transition from college
to work in the Philippines

Adrian() A. Arcelo
Bikas C. Sanyal

Paris 1987

International Institute for Educational Planning

(Established by Unesco)

11 I
4
The views and opinions expressed in this volume are those of the author
and do not necessarily represent the views of Unesco or of the 11EP.

This volume has been typeset using Unesco's computer facilities and the Waterloo 'Script'
documentation-composition program Copies have been printed and hound in IIEP's rintshop

International Institute for Educational Planning.

7 - 9 rue Eugene-Delacroix. 75116 Paris

© Unesco 1987

5
The IIEP research project on higher
education and employment

The rapid expansion of education in the countries of the Third World

has in some respects created as many problems as it has solved. At the
higher levels of education, we often find a considerable discrepancy
between the output of graduates in different specializations and the
absorptive capacity of the labour market leading, in turn, to unemploy-
ment and under-employment of certain types of graduates. In qualita-
tive terms, questions are being raised as to whether the content and
performance of systems of hii, ier education are able to meet the
changing needs of society, including the new and changing methods of
production in the labour market.
These discrepancies are in need of exploration, understanding and
remedy. The high unit cost and opportunity cost in higher education,
the particular social and political signifir.ance of universities and univer-
sity students, and the responsibility of the higher education system in
guidilig and developing other levels of education make it imperative
that a special effort be directed towards the analysis of both the qualita-
tive and quantitative discrepancies that have developed in the higher
education system and towards the exploration of possible means to
correct them.
It is in this context that IIEP, during its past two ' ,edium-Term
Plans, carried out a research project to relate the development of higher
education within a selection of countries to the changing needs of the
employment market, in both quantitative and qualitative terms, so as to
improve the basis for planning the development of higher education
and to reduce the mismatch between the type of training offered by the
institutions and the types of skills needed by the labour iffrket.
The project had the aim of providing a knowledge-base for formu-
lating educational policy oriented towards the employment needs of the
country. The immediate objectives of fie project were:

v
6
Employment and career opportunities after graduation

(a) to identify the role played by the education system in general. and
the higher education system in particular, in the overall socio-
economic development of the country and. conversely, the influ-
ence that the social, cultural and economic factors have exerted in
the development of the education system;

(b) to identify the inconsistencies, both quantitative and qualitative,

that have developed in the past in the education system and suggest
measures to rectify them;

(c) to throw light on the main variables to be considered in formu-

lating policies of intake to different disciplines and institutions;

(d) to identify the factors which intervene in the implementation of

such policies and suggest some ways of minimizing the effect of
these factors;

(e) to develop a system of indicators to be used by the national policy-

makers, the university administrators, potential employers, and the
students, for decision-making;

(f) to create a data-base for researchei s in educational planning,

particularly in the area of employment.

Research was launched in 21 countries around the world to meet

the above objectives in each case. This involved desk studies and
surveys of the different target groups.
This study on the relationship between education and employment
in the Philippines is the result of a co-operative research project
between IIEP and the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE)
in Manila. This study is a follow-up to a previous research, the results
of which were published in 1981.1 The follow-up study concerned a
sam2le of students already surveyed in the previous study and traced
them in order to investigate their achievements both in completing their
studies and in entering the labour market. Thus, among other aspects,
it looked at the employment status of those who had obtained their

I Perfecto. W.S.. Arcelo, A.. and Sanyal, B.C., Higher education and the
labour market in the Philippines. New Delhi, Wiley Eastern Ltd., 1981.

vi
7
 The 11E1' research project on higher education and employment

degrees and the causes for the drop-out of others or for slow movement
in the completion of study programmes.
The specific contribution of this second study lies in the long
period covered by the data-base. Such a wealth of comparable informa-
tion should be very relevant for future research and analysis.
While the 1981 study had already aroused significant interest, this
was further revived on the occasion of the Review Workshop held in
Manila in 1983 and which concentrated on the follow-up study.
Financial support for this study has been provided to IIEP by
Norway (NORAD) for the carrying out of the study, and by Canada
(CIDA) for the holding of the 1983 Review Workshop, which is
acknowledged with deep gratitude.

vii
8
Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support given by the

Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports through Minister Jaime C.
Laya, Deputy Minister Abraham I. Felipe and Director Antonio G.
Dumlao; the National Manpower and Youth Council through
Director-General Lemuel M. Miravalles, Dr. Jose Vergra, Miss Gloria
Gavilla and Director Loreto Purisima; the Educational Development
Project. Implementing Task Force through Dr. Augusto Tenmatay and
Ms. Caridad Miranda; the National Economic Development Authority
through Ms. Florence Tayzon; the Fund for assistance to Private
Education through Dr. Abraham I. Felipe, Dr. Faustino P. Quiocho and
Dr. Amelia B. Reyes. The other staff of FAPE who have extended
unqualified support to the HELMS project are Mr. Melvyn E. Viray,
Mr. Jonathan L. Carnice, Mr. Jose Fernandez. Miss Beth Santayana,
Atty. Sonny V. Zantua, Mr. Virgilio C. Fuerte, Mr. Carlos Lopez, Miss
Jean Posis, Mrs. Corazon M. Nera and Mrs. Elena Lopez.
A panel of scholars have reviewed the draft of this report. These
are Dr. Sippanondha Ketudat, a member of the IIEP Governing Board,
Dr. Conrado Aquino of the University of the East, Dr. Richard Pearson
of the John Jay College of the City University of New York, Prof.
Isahak Haron of the University of Malaysia, Dr. Edith Tan and Dr.
Raul de Guzman of the University of the Philippines. Their comments
have been very helpful in preparing the final report.
Educational institutions have been very co-operative in the
HELMS project. It is not possible to name them all. However, the
authors would like to make a special mention of the Co-ordinating
Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) and its
membersthe Association of Christian Schools and Colleges (ACSC),

9 ix
Achnowledgements

the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), the

Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), the
Philippine Association of Private Technical Institutions (PAPTI), and
the Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities
(PAPSCU).
Finally, the authors would like to extend their thanks to Miss Joyce
Collins, the IIEP Programme Secretary, for her editorial assistance in
preparing this final version. The authors take the responsibility for any
errors and omissions that might still remain in the study.

A. Arcelo
B.C. Sanyal

x 10
Contents

The IIEP research project on higher education and

employment v

Acknowledgements ix

An overview of the problem of higher education and

employment in the Philippines 1

The methodological framework of the study 29

Transition from college to the world of work 44

The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment 91

The graduates in search of a job 137

The college dropouts and the 'tortoises' 162

Expectations versus achievements 176

Principal findings: HELMS II 190

Post-HELMS II situation of the economy and of

employment 219

Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis 227

Appendix A: Qt'estionnaire 237

xi

11
1. An overview of the problem of higher
education and employment in the
Philippines

1.1 Introduction: the role of higher education in a

developing society
The paramount roles of tile university are a commitment. to the pursuit
of knowledge in a spirit of perceptive intellectual inquiry and that of
nurturing desirable values to promote a civilized society characterized
by people of a sharpened intellect and inquisitive mind. The university
also performs the function of preserving, exploring and transmitting a
body of knowledge and societal values to succeeding generations. In the
words ..if Dr. Perkins, President of Cornell University, "Knowledge
acquired must iv transmitted, or it dies. Knowledge acquired and trans-
mitted must be used, or it becomes sterile and inert... The acquisition
of knowledge is the mission of research: ale transmission of knowledge
is the mission of teaching; and the application of knowledge is the
mission of public service' (Perkins, 1966: 7).
Consistent with the teaching function, the university is the venue
where independent sensibilities and an attachment to the past are devel-
oped through critical inquiry into varied art forms and expressions,
trough the evolution of tradition, culture and values reflecting human
experience and the presence of the unchanging values of righteousness
and freedom nurtured by the intellectual ferment of the time. Passage
through the processes of higher education consistent with the classical
role of the university, favourable development of a whole man poss-

12
1
 Emp /ovie In and tarrei opportunity% aft(' ,s/a.inanon

essing capabilities to perform his tole in the society of which he is a

part.
In developing countries, the university and its iolc of developing a
whole man assume political dimensions in the development process.
According to Lipset (1964), "The university has the primary responsi-
bility to train the future elites. This is particularly true for the profes-
sional and goverrn-Pntal roles. In the developing nations, the role of
the university is ilarly significant, since almost all efitc -oIes in the
modernizing secto,s are filled from the ranks of the university-
educated."
However, the effective utilization of university-educated people in
advanced countries resulted in acting -,s an equilibrating force in their
society whereas in developing countries they are, in some instances a
disequilibrating force. This is because university students and the intel-
lectual elite are usually in the vanguard of movements to modernize or
change and against the hold of tradition. (Black, 1966). Furthermore,
the increasing number of educated unemployed caused by a slow rate of
economic growth in developing countries constitute the bubbling lava in
a social volcano always threatening the equilibrium of the social system.
In the 20th Century, the objective of accelerating economic growth
and development has accentuated the function cf the university in
providing with an education sufficient to manage fast-growing indus-
tries, the army and government bureaucracy. This role, coupled with
the rapid pace of scientific and technological advancement, has had a
profound influence on the uriversities. Instead of developing a whole
man, universities are concerned with providing highly specialized skills
to meet the demands of complex technologically-lriented industry and a
sophisticated governmental apparatus and technocratic society (Mandel,
1972: 15).
This is one way in which the university is linked to the economic
and political system of society. Because of this linkage, the university
has a pre-eminent position among contemporary institutions, with the
result that students have accused the university of being the hand-
maiden of the estabiishment. They assert that the university is training
them to fit into an existing and unjust social order (Abrams, 1960: 129).
Concomitant with the need for specialized knowledge came the
growth of new professions in the universities. These professions have
gained academic prominence and intellectual identity precisely because
they used the university as their chief port of entry (Cowen, 1962: 25).
This is a reflection of the continuing acceptance of the role of the
I
13r
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and 'Ploymeni in the Philippines

university, i.e. the selection, formation, and certification of an elite

group. the learned profession, etc. (Trow, 1970: 2 and Conway, 1970:
47). This function of the university has several consequences. These
are:

(a) "Knowledge is now in so many bits and pieces and administration

so distant that faculty members are ;ncreasingly figures in a 'lonely
crowd', intellectually and institutionally" (Kerr, 1963: 10). Thus a
person possessing highly specialized knowledge is isolated and,
once unemployed, he has less job options, thus causing him to be
permanently stuck in the profession he was trained for.

(b) Acquiring credentials has become an obsession, and is endemic

among the faculty and staff in the universities so that aspiring
faculty has less time to provide intellectually-challenging classroom
instruction and an enlighted student-faculty interaction (Cowen,
1972: 24).

(c) Lipset (1972: 32) commented that the university "as the major
accrediting institution of society has reduced the informal influence
of students within the university. The higher estates of the univer-
sity, administration and faculty, have sought to maintain their
traditional authority and prerogatives, while reducing their own
'responsibility' for the quality of the personal and intellectual lives
of their students. This development is not simply or even princi-
pally a function of the growth of the university, it reflects even
more the increased 'professionaiization' of the faculty, the extent
to which 'teaching' as such has continued to decline as the main
;dentification of the role of being a professor".

Apart from training a large amount of the technically specialized

manpower required by industry and the government bureaucracy, the
universities perform research and other related service functions. The
research function is considered as a central necessity in a highly tech-
nocratic age where society demands universities "to carry a prime
responsibility for rolling back the frontiers of human ignorance, for
extending public comprehension of the world and its history, including
man himself and his varieties of culture" (Shoben, 1971: 58).

14 3
 Emplonieni and career opporinsie after graduamin

Pure research and policy-oriented research are being conducted in

the universities for several reasons: (1) The universities possess the
intellectual cream of society as well as the facilities and equipment
necessary for research. (2) Academic independencethe rigorous and
dispassionate analysis that characterizes the life and modes of behaviour
of intellectuals in the universities, provide some semblance of infalli-
bility to research finding. Thus, the policies promulgated and actions
supported by research conducted under the canopy of the academic
world have greater acceptance. (3) Both people in the universities and
the community are agreed that the university is the logical institution in
society to undertake research. Universities consider the research func-
tion as complementary to the teaching function. It is also a way of
augmenting the precarious financial position of the universities.
The wide acceptance of the research function of the universities led
to a closer linkage of the universities with its clientsthe government,
business, industry and other patrons. This linkage gave rise to various
sectors demanding more influence in university affairs. Clients with
research funds feel that the universities have an obligation to them
while the students whose vested interest has been neglected because of
the university's involvement in research have become militant and feel
that they, more that. anybody else, are the primary claimant for power
in the campus. The state of the power struggle in the universities
caused by Kerr (1970: 111) to comment that the "campus is no longer
on the hills 4ith the aristocracy but in the valleys with the people".
Politicisation became inevitable. The faculty, the administration, the
students and the community became politically conscious entities in
campus affairs, and thus had far reaching consequences. The proce-
dures foi administering an academic institution are being challenged
and intellectual activities are being threatened to the extent that a scep-
tical attitude toward truth and conventional wisdom is prevalent in
academe (Trow, 1970: 6-12).
Consistent with tile public service function, faculty members of
universities are involved in the operation of government, industry and
the entire society in the application of their body of knowledge to the
solution of intricate problems associated with the irreversible process of
global development. It is often advantageous to the university for its
scientists to be in the space exploration programme, for its educationists
to be in developing countries formulating educational development
plans. There are numerous community projects in which the university

4
15
 An overview of the problem of lughet education
and empkyment in the Philippines

is involved in the development, diffus:on and application of new knowl-

edge mid new methods of leatning. The university, being a community
of scholars, is expected I) provide academic leadership and to embody
enlightened public opinion in regard to almost all facets and affairs of
society.
The conflicting are. competing ideologies that flourished in this
century and the social malaise that accompanied economic growth and
social development imposed on the university, by virtue of its commit-
ment to truth and freedom of inquiry, the role of critic of society. As
such, the university must engage in a creative interaction with society
"by exploring the problems of society in the spirit of fr .4 critical exper-
imentation that characterized its involvement in the natural sciences. In
fact, such an approach to society's problem is clearly appropriate to the
university's mission of intellectual stewardship" (Luria, 1970: 79).
In a period when the freedom to criticize is in danger, the late
president of the University of the PhilippinesRafael Palma exclaimed,
"Let the university be ... the ultimate refuge in which the threatened
liberties of the people will find a sure 2nd stable anchorage".
By accepting the role of social critic and discharging it in accor-
dance with traditional academic virtues, tin.. triiversity provides us with
some reason for optimism not only for an orderly and more meaningful
evolution of society but also for an environnten, conducive to a heathly
life.
However, higher education today cannot justify its existence by
providing only academic learning for mental and spiritual development,
it has in addition to convey the necessary skills for economic develop-
ment in order that natural resources might be explored and exploited,
products stored and distributed, services managed and resources
conserved for future generations. This brings us to the role of higher
education in meeting employment needs and to the global issue of the
relationship between higher education am. employment. The problem
of educated youth, on the one hand, and on the other, the role of
education in general and higher education in particular in providing
skills essential for economic and social development, have motivated
researchers in the Bella of both economics and education to look for
ways of achieving a better relationship between higher education and
employment. Researchers in the Philippines have also joined in this
effort, as is evident from the following section.

. 16 5
 Employment and career opportunities after grad:tat:on

1.2 Previous research on relating higher education to

employment in the Philippines (HELMS I)
In 1976, a study on higher education and the labour market in the
Philippines was conducted jointly by a number of national authorities
and the IIEP. The authorities concerned in the Philippines were the
Ministry of Education and Culture (including offices in the Ministry
such as the Educational Development Projects Implementing Task
Force, the Planning Service, the Bureau of Higher Education and the
National Educational Testing Center), the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA), the National Manpow. r and Youth
Council (NMYC), and the Fund for Assistance to Private Education
(FAPE). The International Institute for Educational :Nanning (IIEP)
lent its support to this study, whose theme, higher education and
employment, was within the framework of IIEP's research programme.
The objectives of the study were:

(a) to identify inconsistencies in the development of higher education

in relation to the development of the economy;

(b) to identify the implications of these findings for planning of higher

education in the country, with special reference to employment.

The -cudy, published in 1981 under the title `Higher Education and the
Labour Market in the Philippines' (HELMS I), covered an analysis of
socio-economic development, including the development of education,
in general, and higher education, in particular. The data collected
through questionnaire surveys resulted in an analysis of the attitudes
and expectations of students. graduates and employers. The surveys
included 9,105 students, 4,376 collegiate degree holders. 279 post secon-
dary non-collegiate diploma holders and 777 employers.
The study recognized the role higher education could play in the
development of the economy and society. In more concrete terms, the
highly qualified manpower produced by the higher education sector
could play a significant role in the exploration and exploitation of
resources with a view to creating employment for both highly educated
citizenry and the general public. Also included in HELMS I is a histor-
ical analysis of the development of modern education in the country as
well as the identification of regional educational disparitiesa problem

6
17
 An (merlins, of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

which is related to inequality in the distribution of income which, in

turn, has some adverse effects on schooling such as high wastage
through dropout and low academic performance as reflected in test
results such as the NCEE. SOUTELE, etc. The most significant contri-
bution of HELMS, however, was an in-depth analysis of perceptions,
attitudes and expectations of the students, graduates and employees in
respect of the system of higher education and the world of work. In
more specific terms, the factors investigated by HELMS I were the
identification of the variables responsible for private demand for higher
education by typology of school and the role of socio-economic charac-
teristics in generating such demand, the adequacy of (1) career guidance
facilities in assisting the transition from school to work, (2) of the
content and method of instruction, and of (3) the recruitment practices
and methods for employment. Enquiries were made into the flexibility
of the labour market and the education system in adapting the skills
learned in schools to the world of work, the degree of mismatch
between expectations and reality in the education system a, well as the
world of work, the waiting period experienced before obtaining a job
for different types of graduates, criteria for and degree of satisfaction of
graduates with their jobs and, finally, the determinants of graduates'
earnings and the degree of match or mismatch between the expected
income of students and the actual income of graduates. The study also
identified the levels of ,:orrespondence between educational and
manpower planning in the Philippines and the extent of unemployment
among university graduates. The following section gives a summary of
the principal findings of this research.

1.3 Principal findings of HELMS I

1.3.1 The economy and the employment problem

The Philippines is well-endowed with mineral, forestry and fishery

resources. It has an oil potential of about 10 billion barrels according
to 1977 estimates. It also has hydro and gothermal sources of energy
which, when properly exploited, could make the country much less
dependent on the import of petrol. In the fifties, the country adopted a
development strategy of industrialization through import substitution.

18 7
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Investment, however, was concentrated on large-scale capital-intensive

types of industries. But the urban market for consumer goods soon
reached saturation point and the rural market did not expand, so indus-
trialization had to be slowed down and the employment situation wors-
ened. In the sixties, the rural sector was given greater priority:
modernization techniques were applied to agriculture, rural incomes
grew and GNP per capita increased at an average rate of 5-6 per cent
during 1960-1965. This trend continued in the seventies. Agricultural
development has continued to be the priority objective of the country.
Land reform programmes have been initiated to reduce income dispari-
ties among the people, since according to a 1975 survey, less than a
third of the income recipients at the top account for nearly two-thirds
of total national income. The real gross national product has been
increasing at an average of more than 6 per cent per year during the
seventies. Agriculture, forestry and fishing contribute one-third of the
total net domestic product. The production sector constitutes slightly
more than a quarter of the net domestic product, and the services sector
accounts for the rest. Gross domestic capital formation increased at an
annual rate of 17.3 per cent during the period 1973.1976, a develop-
ment which illustrates the country's efforts to reverse the role of agri-
culture and industry in its economic activities. However, the
government investment expenditure per capita by region shows marked
disparities, i.e. Metro Manila registered the biggest per capita regional
allocation with a total allocation of 1,667 Pesos (P)2 per capita in 1976
as compared with Southern Tagalog Region with the lowest regional
allocation of only P.43 per capita.
The country's balance of trade changed from positive to negative
during the period 1973-1976. The reasons for this change were :nainly
the oil crisis and unfavourable terms of foreign trade.
The population in the Philippines has been increasing at a rate of
2.7 per cent per year. The dependency ratio is 87 at the national level.
Analysis of population migration patterns shows that 59 per cent of
total migration is urban or suburban bound and the rest rural bound.
One of the important reasons for migration to cities is availability of
jobs and services. In spite of the economic growth in the seventies, it is
recorded that on average only 22 per cent of the children in the age
group 0-6 years were within normal nutritional standards the remainder

2 One Peso = 0.12 US$ approximately.

19
 An overview of the proble of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

suffering from malnutrition of various degrees.

The unemployment rate in the country was about 5.2 per cent in
1976 with a total work force of 15.5 million. However, the rate of
underemployment was of the order of 11 per cent, while the labour
force has grown at an approximate annual rate of 4.8 per cent per year
in the recent seventies.

1.3.2 The development of elementary and secondary education

The country records one of the highest literacy rates, comparable even
with those of developed countries. In 1970, 83.4 per cent of the people
were literate. Sixty-three per cent of the children in the age group 6-14
and 30 per cent of youth in the age group 15-20 attended school in
1970. The situation has further improved since then.
Enrolment by sex indicated more males than females at elementary
level. Similar observations were noted at secondary level except in
more recent years, i.e. school years 1971-1972 and 1974-1975 where the
ratio was almost equal. An interregional comparison of elementary
school enrolment for the period 1952-1953 to 1974-1975 shows a
similar incidence for all regions, with Regions III, IV and VI registering
the highest enrolments. For the secondary level Regions I, IV and VI
registered the highest enrolment. Regions II, IX and XII had the lowest
enrolment at both levels. The survival rates from Grade I to Fourth
Year in both public and private schools showed an increasing trend.
These were 21.96 per cent for school years 1956-1957 to 1965-1966;
27.93 per cent for school years 1963-1964 to 1970-1971 and 30.74 per
cent for school years 1966-1967 to 1974-1975. However, the ratio of
the number of pupils reaching Fourth Year to the number of pupils in
Grade I was still low.
There was an observed downward trend in dropout rates all over
the country from school years 1972-1973 to 1974-1975. From 6.22 per
cent in school year 1972-1973, the dropout rate declined to 5.93 per
cent in 1974-1975 in spite of the upward trend in enrolme,.. during the
same period. A ranking of the three regions with the lowest dropout
rates shows that Regions I, III anti IV consistently had the lowest rates
during the period. Of the regions with the highest dropout rates,
Region VII consistently ranked first.

9
20
 Entployntent and career opportunities after graduation

A high quality of education in the Philippines is expected to be

achieved by regulating and reorienting he flow of students from the
secondary level to the institutions of higher learning. i.e. through the
National College Entrance Examination (NCEE). which is used as a
national criterion for college admission. Since 1973, the NCEE has
been administered yearly.

1.3.3 The organizational structure of the higher education system

At a time of total reorganization of the government machinery, the

Ministry of Education and Culture reorganized itself so as to achieve a
higher efficiency and to provide better service to its clientele. The basic
feature is the organization of regional offices headed by Regional
Directors with staff and service support. The reorganized system makes
possible the exercise of initiative, imagination and leadership in curric-
ulum development and innovations, in addition to giving responsibility
for administrative matters that can be handled at the regional levels. It
is also expected to bring about faster implementation of educational
reform programmes.
The Secretary of the Ministry is assisted in the formulation of
plans, programmes and projects by the Educational Development
Projects Implementing Task Force (EDPITAF), four service groups (the
Administrative Service, the Finance and Management Service, the
Planning Service and the Information and Publication Service) and
three Bureaux (Elementary Education, Secondary Education and
Higher Education). In the implementation of programmes and projects,
the Secretary is assisted by the five offices and their staff. The adminis-
trative hierarchy consists of regional directors, division and city superin-
tendents, and school district supervisors and principals.
Non-formal education programmes of out-of-school youth have
been developed to progressively remove barriers between the formal
and non-formal educational systems. Training centres have been
createdfor semi-skilled workers and even professionalswhere they
may update their knowledge and skills or otherwise gain new insights at
any time.
Human resources and training development initiatives are
expressed in different government policies and activities. The need for
integrated and co-ordinated human resources development was empha-

10
21,
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

sized in the identification of the government agencies to be responsible

for the development and training activities of the country. The
Ministry of Education and Culture appointed an Under-Secretary for
non-formal education to this effect, and also embarked upon, various
educational reforms and programmes in co-operation and collaboration
with other agencies and organizations.
Planning theoretically exists even on the regional levels under each
Planning Unit of the regional office. In addition to participating in
regional development planning representing the education sector, the
Planning Unit provides the national office with research results and
statistical data. It also formulates operational plans and systems and
procedures necessary for the implementation of programmes and
projects at the regional level.

1.3.4 The development of higher education in the private sector

Private educational institutions consist of three typosstock, non-stock

and foundations. Stock corporations allow stocki:.:tmorc to derive
profits from the operations and to declare dividends. Educational non-
stock corporations, on the other hand, should reinvest their net profits
for the improvement of the institutions.
In 1969, Republic Act 6055 was passed, providing for the voluntary
conversion of education stock corporations into foundations.
Tax-exempt educational foundations exist in perpetuity., If dissolved
their assets go to the state. Control is exercised by a Board of Trustees
or its equivalent, the members of which are elected or appointed by the
stockholders or members, or in some cases as in sectarian institutions,
by the bishop or superior of the order or congregation. They exercise
the corporate ownership of the institutions by virtue of the fact that any
educational institution in the private sector has to be incorporated
according to law. Four main responsibilities fall to a Board of Trustees:
general policies, general management, approval of new courses or
discontinuance of old ones, and ceremonial functions.
At the outbreak of the war in 1941, there were 8 universities and
84 colleges in the private sector of higher education. Twenty-eight
years later, there were 594 institutions of higher learning in the same
sector, 36 with university status and the rest colleges. Two hundred and
ninety-three were educational stock corporations, 254 were non-stock

22. 11
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

and 47 were foundations. Eight years later, in 1977, the numbcr rose to
694.
In 25 years, i.e. 1950-51 to 1975-76, collegiate enrolment grew
more than fourfold. During the first decade. the annual enrolment
growth rate was 3.6 per cent but went up to 8.14 per cent in the
following decade. However, the rate of expansion went down to 1.69
per cent for the period 1970 to 1976. The share of the private sector
on total collegiate enrolment declined in school years 1964-70 to
1975-76. Females outnumbered males; a development which could be
traced partly to the type of collegiate courses being offered. Half of the
college students were studying in Metro Manila as of 1972, while the
other half were thinly distributed over the other regions. A 1975 survey
showed that 27.3 per cent belonged to the upper class, 70.7 per cent to
the middle class and 1.9 per cent to the lower class.
The growth of collegiate enrolment varied according to courses.
For the seven-year period, school year 1966-67 to school year 1972-73,
Commerce grew the fastest with 9.3 per cent annual growth while Law
grew the slowest with 2.6 per cent. Teacher Training courses suffered
significant decreases averaging 15.9 per cent annually.
Data on the number of high school graduates and the number of
first year college students for a ten-year period 1962-63 to 1972-73
reflect an erratic flow. However, the average flow was estimated to be
around 83 per cent.
Rough calculations based on available data from school years
1962-63 to school years 1972-73 reveal that Engineering and Teacher
Training courses had the lowest survival rates with 29.5 and 36.4 per
cent respectively while Commerce, Medical Science, Music and Fine
Arts and Food, Nutrition and Dietetics had the highest survival rates.
Teacher Training registered the highest dropout rate of 21.2 per cent,
while Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with Engineering, Law and
Agriculture, had dropout rates of over 17 per cent annually.
As of school year 1972-73, there was a total of 19,806 faculty
members teaching in the private sector representing 89.2 per cent of the
total. More than one half (55.8 per cent) of them were teaching full
time. The distribution of teachers is observed to be at variance with the
distribution of college enrolment. According to highest educational
attainment, 24.6 per cent have a master's degree or higher, 66.8 per
cent possess a bachelor's degree and 5.5 per cent have less than a bach-
elor's degree. The faculty-student rat:0 was 1:18 in school year
1963-64, 1:26 in school year 1966-67 and 1:22 in school year 1969 70.

12
23
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

As a rough indicator of the availability of librzry resources, the

ratio in the private sector was about six books for every 100 students i
school years 1972-73. The ratio varied according to field of study wit
Liberal Arts and Sciences having the highest ratio with 41 books for
every hundred students and Agriculture having the lowest with less than
a book for every hunched students.
As of school year 1973-74, a total of 26,312 classrooms were
utilized for lectures in college courses although not all of these were
solely for college use. About 5,637 laboratory rooms were used solely
by college students.
Operating cost per student differed by type of institution, by
course offered and by geographical location of the school. In 1972-73,
the median cost per student was found to be around P.375 while the
average was P.680 By school type, hospital schools along with semi-
naries had the highest per student cost with averages of 1,794 and
P.1,628 respectively. Teacher training schools and business schools had
the lowest cost with P.594 and P.509 respectively. In 1969, prior to the
increase of student and other fees, Western Visayas had the highest
operating cost per student (269) and Bicol registered the lowest (87).
In 1970-71, in a survey conducted by the Bureau of Private
Schools, the average current operating expenditure per student per year
was P.302. Of this, 41.4 per cent was for salaries and 14.3 per cent for
administration. All in all, 78.9 per cent was devoted to recurrent expen-
diture while the rest wa3 used for apital expenditure.
In 1970-71, students paid on the average about P.240 a semester
for 4-year college courses. Actual figures varied according to major
fields of study and the type of school offering the course. In general,
sectarian schools charged higher students fees than non-sectarian
schools. They also varied according to region. It is estimated that if
student fees as from 1972 increased by 15 per cent annually, a college
student now pays on the average P.766.24 per year.
The social rates of return of tour years and five years of college
were found to be around 8.5 and 8.0 per cent respectively. It was also
found that only mechanical engineering and chemical engineering give
rates of return higher than the average; in some other fields, only
certain institutions yield rates of return higher than the average while
other fields, irrespective of the student's college, give less than 5 per
cent or, in some cases, even negative returns.

24 13
 Employnzent and career opportuntues after graduation

Student fees constituted the main source M revenues of private

higher education institutions. In school year 1972-73, the dependence
of these schools on student fees reached on the average 92 per cent. By
type of control, non-sectarian schools appear to be more dependent on
student fees than their sectarian counterparts. According to region,
private schools in Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon registered the
highest dependency ratio on student fees at 98 per cent. The lowest was
recorded in Northern Mindanao with 70 per cent.
The financial resources of private collegiate schools are mainly
devoted to salary expenditures and operating expenses: 70 per cen: of
the total in school year 1972-73. Expenses for institutional develop-
ment or expansion like capital outlay received a meager share of only 7
per cent of the total. Expenditures however varied according to
geographical location. The percentage share of salaries was observed to
be high in regions often regarded as the most educationally depressed
areas in the country, viz.: Eastern Visayas (69 per cent) and in Cagayan
Valley (61 per cent).
Historically, private schools have larger financial allocations for
recurrent expenditures, though the percentage share seems to be
decreasing.
The enrolment explosion experienced during the sixties was a reac-
tion to liberal educational policies adopted by the government in
bringing education, particularly elementary education, to the greatest
number of individuals. Together with other social factors, this po'lcy
raised the educational expectations of individuals across all social
groups, thus creating a high demand for secondary and collegiate educa-
tion. The task of meeting the demand for secondary education was
shared equally by the government and the private sector. However, at
the collegiate level, the demand was largely met by the private sector
with government participation limited only to state colleges and univer-
sities. As a response to the market, investors in education opted to
establish schools which offered the least costly courses such as
commerce and liberal arts. Large numbers of private schools also grew
all over the country, particularly in urban centres.
Past expansion was brought about mainly by deliberate efforts to
meet social demand for education. Manpower demand was only inci-
dental. However, because of this approach, a disparity in the supply of
and the demand for such graduates in the Philippine labour market was
felt not only in numerical terms but also in the k;nd and quality of

l4
25
I
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

education demanded by the users. In effect, some forms of dysfunc-

tionality become discernible between the private higher education sector
on the one hand, and the economy on the other.

1.3.5 The development of state higher education

At the time of independence in 1946, there was one state university,

one agricultural school, eight regional teacher-training institutions apart
from the Philippine Normal school, one trade school and one business
school. Since then, the system has expanded into eight universities,
thirty-four chartered state colleges and forty-eight non- chartered higher
education institutions.
State colleges and universities are governed by a charter enacted
through legislation. It guarantees a large degree of autonomy in terms
of curricular and academic standards, appointments and co-1pensation
of faculty and the determination of priorities for the institutions. Due
to the nature of the charter, these institutions operate independently of
the Ministry of Education and Culture. However, the Board of
Regents, the highest policy-making body of these institutions, has the
Minister of Education and Culture as ex-officio chairman.
Non-chartered institutions operate as an integral part of the
Ministry of Education and Culture and are at present under the control
and supervision of the Regional Directors. The autonomy character-
izing chartered institutions is lacking. These schools usually carry out
programmes in teacher training, vocational arts and trades and agricul-
ture.
The percentage share of public higher education enrolment in total
higher education enrolment had been increasing from 10.97 per cent in
school year 1971-72 to 15.57 per cent in 1975-76. By sex, females
predominate especially at the graduate level. This is, however,
explained by the fact that in teacher training which accounted for about
20 per cent of the total enrolment, females outnumbered males by
about 9 to 1. Geographical distribution shows a concentration of enrol-
ment in Region IV-A because of the presence of the larger state schools
in this area which altogether accounted for about two-thirds of total
public higher education enrolment in 1972-73.
The development of fields of study in the public higher education
system has been a result of the intimate link of the system to the plan-

15
26:
 Enzplo,vntent and career opportunities after graduation

ning process which determines and defines manpower for national

development, and a diminished demand for certain types of educational
programmes that the private sector is incapable of sustaining since they
are constrained to develop in that direction.
As of 1973-1974, the total teaching staff was 5,390 broken down
into 3.865 for state colleges and universities and 1,525 for non-cnartered
higher education institutions. The University of the Philippines (UP)
teaching staff constitutes 36.2 per cent of the total, with 29.4 per cent of
them possessing doctorate degrees and 25 per cent with masters degrees.
Except 11. three state universities and one state college, the avail-
able funds for capital expenditutes for state colleges is only 9 per cent
of the total operating budget. Most of the physical plant have been
converted from big high schools and colleges and hence are largely
unsatisfactory LIr the upgraded academic roles which they have
assumed. On the average, the majority of the physical plant is more
than 15 years old.
In the study conducted by the Presidential Committee to Study
State Higher Education in 1975, it was found that (a) the University of
the Philippines incurred the highest cost per student at P.4,000 to 5,700
depending on the course of study; (b) not a single state school apnroxi-
mates that of the University of the Philippines pet capita Lost; (c) only
three schools are able to spend even half of this cost; and t..at (d) the
remaining state schools' per student cost is less than a quarter that of
the University of the Philippines.
Of the total income of chartei Ld institutions, 84 per cent comes
from national budgetary allocations, 14 per cent from collected tuition
fees and another 2 per cent from the schools' commercial operations.
For non-chartered institutions, income comes from the national alloca-
tion to a., MEC3 which was about 2.62 per cent of the total MEC
budget in 1977. Tuition fees collected revert to the national govern-
ment for reallocation in the succeeding fiscal year.
The expansion of the state system of higher education was condi-
tioned by several factors:

(a) the need to ensure access for some sub-groups of the population
-vho cannot afford private education;

3 MEC: Ministry of Education and Culturc.

16
27
 An overview of the problem of higher educaucn
and employment in the Philippines

(b) the needs for types of manpower deemed vital for national devel-
opment;

(c) its new-found role of providing academic expertise and community

leadership through various extension programmes in its environs;

(d) partisan policies which regard the establishment of such institutions

in their constituency a monument to political achievement, and

(e) pressures from the institutions to elevate their institutional status

which in operational terms meant a corresponding increase in
faculty status and compensation and expanded operations with
corresponding increase in budgetary support. However, steps were
being taken in regard to these problems of declini-ig academic stan-
dards and available resources.

1.3.6 Findings of students, graduates and employers

Six regions out of 13 accommodated 75 per cent of the student popula-

tion in the institutions of higher education in the Philippines. Metro
Manila, i.e. National Capital Region (NCR) enrolled some two-thirds of
the students surveyed more or less representing the national situation.
There were more female students than male students in the
Philippines' higher education system. Almost half of the students (45
per cent) spoke Tagalog as their dialect. Approximately one out of
every three students were taking commerce and business administration
as their field of study; the next popular field was engineering and tech-
nology with 17.8 per cent of the student population, followed by medi-
cine which was the choice of 13.8 per cent of the students. It was also
observed that there was a high rate of migration in the pursuit of higher
education. All the other seven regions sent some of their secondary
school leavers to the above-mentioned six regions for higher education.
Screening for higher education starts after a student leaves primary
school. Very few of the students who attended barrio high schools and
science or vocational high schools (10 per cent) went, on to higher
education. Ninety per cent of university students came from general
secondary schools.

17
28
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Metro Manila (NCR) had the largest proportion of student enrol-

ment (34 per cent) followed by !locos region (Region I, 13.5 per cent)
and Southern Tagalog (Region IV, 12.4 per cent).
For one out of five students, the father's occupation was agricul-
ture; for 14 per cent of the students, it was professional or technical
work. Administrative, executive or managerial occupations, production
and transport and sales occupations accounted for roughly 12 per cent
each. Thus, with respect to fathers's employment, agriculture and
community services represented nearly half the student population, and
trade more than one-tenth. From the viewpoint of parents' income,
more than 60 per cent of students came from families with incomes of
P.2,000 or less per month, the average monthly family income being
P.1,945.98 per month which was nearly seven times the monthly nation-
wide per capita income. This shows that only those families which were
above-average in terms of income sent their children on to higher
education.
It was observed that the higher the test score in the NCEE, the
greater was the probability of succeeding in college. The initial analysis
of correlation between general scholastic aptitude measured in the
NCEE and the grade point average measured in college during the first
semester did not always show a positive correlation due, it was believed,
to variations in the grading system at different institutions, adjustment
problems of students in the first semester and the problem of the meas-
urement of the validity of the test. Several improvements were being
made in the college entrance tests.
About 98 per cent of secondary school graduates aspired to higher
education and took the NCEE. In 1975, 47 per cent of the applicants
were males. Average scholastic aptitude was about the same for both
male and female students. There were marginal differences in the mean
scores, with the younger age-groups performing better. Performance
was better for students coming from higher socio-economic back-
grounds (slightly over one-third of the applicants had a monthly family
incomr of less than P.250). Also the higher the educational level of
parents, the better was the performance of the students. Performance
was additionally related to the prestige value of the field of specializa-
tion they intended to pursue. For example, students aspiring to enter
engineering fields scored in the 70 and above percentile brackets; those
who aspired to agriculture and fishery activities obtained 50 and belov.
Parental influence on the choice of a student's field of study was less in

18
29
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

the case of those who performed better in the NCEE: at the very high
percentile ranks students indicated that they could not depend on their
Good employment opportunities were the most important reason
for secondary school leavers pursuing higher education, according to the
graduates surveys. Nert in order of importance was the possibility of a
wide choice of future careers. Factors like social 1..restige, family influ-
ence, foliowirg the peer group did not have any significant influence on
a school leaver's decision to pursue higher education. Once they had
decided to pursue higher education and had been admitted to an institu-
tion; one out of three students were not able to pursue the course
chosen because of lack of financing or because parents wanted them to
do something else.
In the Philippines, career guidance facilities were very limited for
school leavers in the past, although the situation was improving.
Organized placement facilities for graduates were also rare.
The most frequently used method of recruitment was personal
contacts. What was more interesting was that the employers found this
the most effective method of recruitment as well. The most serious
difficulty in recruiting graduates, as percelved by hie employers, was the
lack of properly qualified persons to meet the needs of the job although
it was mentioned by the graduates that their training met the needs of
the job. This was evidence of a mismatch between the perceptions of
the graduates and the employers with regard to the needs of the job.
1n-service training was provided by two out of three employing units
surveyed, and almost half of the firms provided pre-employment
training. Although personal contacts played the most important role in
the method of recruitment of graduates, 'work experience' and
'academic performance' were considered to be the most important
criteria for selecting a graduate for a job.
After graduates had completed their studies, the employment
market was more flexible for some fields of studies than for others.
Commerce and business administration graduates could obtain a job in
any of the standard occupational classes (as defined by ILO and adopted
by the country). Substantial numbers of teacher education graduates
also moved to occupations other than teaching. Some engineering grad-
uates took up administrative and managerial positions which would
normally be occupied by commerce graduates. Graduates of liberal
arts, social science and humanities, however, faced a less flexible
employment mai ket. Gr. .aates of the University of Philippines

19
30
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

showed the distinct characteristic of being able to fit into the top two
major o,rupations, namely: professional and technical, and administra-
tive and managerial positions. Graduates of Protestant sectarian
colleges and state arts and trade schools ranked next in occupying the
highest positions in the employment market. The state higher educa-
tion system supplied relatively larger numbers of graduates to high !eve:
positions than the private higher education system. The average waiting
period for a graduate to obtain a job after finishing his course of studies
was about six months. Nearly 80 per cent of employed graduates got
their jobs within a year after finishing their courses. Only 4 per cent
waited for more than two years. Graduates of the University of the
Philippines (UP) waited the shortest period of time, whereas those of
the proprietary and other private schools waited the longest. It was
observed that lack of job opportunities was the major factor for the
delay in getting jobs for the graduates of teacher training institutions,
agricultural colleges and arts and trade schools.
Almost all of the graduates surveyed found their training content
and method both relevant and necessary for their jobs. According to
them, formal education could not be replaced by non-formal education.
but could be supplemented for better performance on the job. Work
related experiences integrated with the formal education system
appeared to be the most preferred structure of education.
According to the employed graduates, the most important factor in
making a job satisfactory was the proper use of their skills. Income
ranked sixth on an eight-point scale. Poor career prospects are cited
most frequently as the reason for job dissatisfaction. Low salary was
cited as a reason for discontent with the job by only eight per cent of
the graduates. Agriculture, sales and armed forces workers were the
least satisfied, perhaps because of the lack of required skills imparted by
the system of higher education.
With respect to the salaries of graduates, those of the UP system
on average earned the highest salaries, while those of agricultural
colleges earned the least. Graduates working in th, financing, insurance
and real estate organizations earned the highest salaries and those
working in agriculture, fisheries and forestry the least. In determining a
graduate's starting salary, employers considered his work experience and
field of specialization as the most decisive factors.
Socio-economic status variables of graduates, type of firms and
regions from which students came did not have any influence on their

20
31
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

earnings differentials, whereas occupational classification, industrial

classification, type of university and educational attainments of gradu-
ates had exerted an influence.
With respect to mobility on the job, there were fewer instances of
upward mobility within the same professional scale than within the
same occupation. However, the lower the level of occupation, the
higher was the average growth in income among the graduates.

1.3.7 Educational planning and manpower planning in the

Philippines

In the Philippines, manpower plans in the past have not been properly
matched with educational plans. The problem is lack of reliable statis-
tics and forecasts of supply from the institutions of education coupled
with the absence of necessary data about the labour market.
According to estimates of supply of college graduates during the
period 1978-82, prepared by the National Manpower and Youth
Council, more than 50 per cent of the graduates would earn a degree in
commerce and business administration, 10 per cent in engineering and
technology, 12 per cent in arts and sciences, 5 Or cent each in agricul-
ture and medical sciences, 4 per cent in teacher training, and the
remainder in chemistry, nutritional studies, law, music and fine arts,
natural sciences and other post-graduate studies. It was estimated that
this output would result in the unemployment of about 70,000 college
graduates in 1978 and about 95,000 in 1982, if the economy continued
to grow at the same rate as in the past and recruitment criteria of the
employers remained unchanged. The situation was bound to result in
educational inflation in the labour market, which would mean under-
utilization of the training offered to students. Most of this unemploy-
ment and underemployment was likely to occur in the field of
commerce and business administration. It is unfortunate that estimates
of needs for skills in the economy are not based upon fields of studies
which would enable us to discover the extent of foreseeable unemploy-
ment in other fields and the flow from higher education to jobs.
Such was the situation in the Philippines in respect of the relation-
ship between higher education and employment as of the middle seven-
ties. Since the study was published the economy of the country and the
employment situation have undergone changes, as can be seen from the
following section.
21

32
r

Employment and career opportunities after graduation

1.4 Post-HELMS I situation in the Philippines

1.4.1 The economy. 1977-1980

From 1977 to 1980, the real growth of the econorn} was more or less
on a par with past growth, averaging 6.02 per cent over the four-yea-
period i.e. a little below the real growth of 7.3 per cent in 1976. During
this three-year period, the highest rate occurred in 1979 at 6.9 per cent
and the lowest in 1980 at 5.1 per cent. (For details see Table 1.11.4
The inflation rate was considered reasonable until 1978. In 1979. it
suddenly jumped to 16.5 per cent and higher still to 17.6 per cent in
1980.
The impressive growth of the economy has been closely related to
substantial growth in employment. In 1976 employment grew by only
2.8 per cent but climbed to 5.1 per cent in 1977. 6.4 per cent in 1978.
5.5 per cent in 1979 but went down again to 1.8 per cent in 1980.
The Balance of Payments has deteriorated. The deficit in 1979 was
US$54 million, but jumped to US$570 million in 1980 and then fell in
1981 to US$381 million. The sudden rise in the deficit was due mainly
to a shortfall in exports caused by low prices of sugar, coconut, copper
and other traditional export products of the Philippines. On the other
hand, the prices of imports, especially oil, were up.
Dollar proceeds from tourism and remittances of overseas workers
have substantially alleviated the balance of payments problem. There
were 730,123 tourists in 1977 and 1,008,159 in 1980. In addition over-
seas workers increased from 19,221 in 1976 to 36,676 in 1977. 50.961 in
1978, 92,519 in 1979 and 157,394 in 1980. The accumulated number of
overseas workers was 600,000, remitting over US$1 billion.

1.4.2 Domestic and overseas employment

Domestic employment has not shown any dramatic improvement.

Between 1975 to 1980 the average yearly increase in the labour force
was approximately 3.6 per cent. Open unemployment was 4 per cent
and underemployment 10.3 per cent. Fortunatel}, the growth of both

4 Tables in this study are to he found at the end of each chapter

22

33
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

sea-based and land-based overseas employment prevented the labour

problem from becoming really serious.
Land-based overseas workers went up to 210.936 in 1981 and
250,115 in 1982. Filipino seamen abroad grew from 37,280 in 1978 to
57,196 in 1980 and 64,169 in 1982.
The destinations of overseas workers are Asia, Europe. the Middle
East and America. The biggest number of overseas workers was in the
Middle East whose share dramatically increased from 40.65 per cent in
197E to 70.13 per cent in 1977 (with 25,721 workers) and an all-time
high of 87.03 per c 183,580 workers) in 1981.
Asia had a signaicant share of Filipino overseas workers with
20,322 in 1981 compared to only 2,101 going to America, 41.126 to
Europe. In Asia the destinations are the high-growth countries like
Brunei, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Professional, technical and related workers have ..ignificantly
increased in number from only 4,707 in 1977 to 11,335 in 1978, 17,964
in 1979, 24,361 in 1980 and 26,680 in 1981, and the share of this type
of worker in the total overseas workers has been steady at over 12 per
cent.
The biggest bulk of overseas workers are production workers,
transport, and equipment operators. In 1977 there were 26,086 recruits.
This went up to 101,436 in 1980 and 144,970 in 1981. The share of this
group of workers to total overseas workers has been on the average of
64.75 per cent.
Against this backdrop of the economy and the employment situ-
ation, HELMS II was launched.

1.5 Launching of HELMS II: The objectives of the

research
The HELMS I study covered a large number of issues but could not go
'in-depth' into certain aspects of analysis. Although some of the ideas
of the study found their way into the national plan and the formulation
of reforms in higher education, it was felt necessary that in-depth
consideration should be given to the transition of college students to the
world of work. Thus, it was thought there was a need to conduct a
HELMS 11 study to follow-up the student respondents of HELMS I to
determine, inter alia, who among the students drop out and why; who

13
34
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

delay completing their education and why; after graduation, who gets a
job and how; what problems the graduates encountered in the process
of obtaining employment and what factors contribute to greater
employability; what differences are experienced in the transition process
from academe to the world of work from those experienced by the
graduates before 1975 as reported in HELMS I; how flexible curricular
programmes are in relation to job availabilities; how the labour market
behaves and what forces influence labour market behaviour; which
graduates remain unemployed and why and what are the explanatory
variables of unemployment.
Answers to such questions required the selection of a given cohort
of students and a longitudinal study over time, and thus the students
surveyed in HELMS I were chosen as the cohort to be followed up over
time to find the answers. Although the responses to such questions are
expected to change over time for different cohorts of students, a choice
of a given cohort providts controls for many external factors particular
to the student group under considerationsuch factors include indi-
vidual characteristics, family characteristics, community characteristics,
home region, early educational and occupational contacts, etc.
Different cohorts could :nve different characteristics, and tracing the
same cohort helps to avoid s...ch differences or at least to reduce them
considerably. In addition, a loi,,;itudinal study reveals the changes that
occur in the same group of individuals over time that might be caused
by changes in the economy, in politics and in the socio-economic char-
acteristics of a country. But when attempting to draw some conclusions
for policy in respect to different academic programmes, the representa-
tiveness of the population becomes important. Therefore we had to add
to the student group, three years afterwards, an additional sample of
graduates belonging to the same cohort. This sample of additional
respondents belonging to the graduating class of the HELMS I student
respondents was selected at random from the school registers. The
details of the methodology used are given in the next Chapter.

24 3"":
 An overview of ;he problem of higher education
and employment in the Philippines

Table 1.1: Selected economic indicators

Real Growth Growth in Growth

in Gross Ccasumer Rate of
Year National Price Employment
Product Index

1976 7.3 9.2 2.8

1977 6.4 9.9 5.1

1978 5.7 7.9 6.4

1979 6.9 16.5 5.5

1980 5.1 17.6 1.8

1981 3.4 12.4 6.9

1982 22.8 10.2 3.0

1983 -1.3 26.1

1984 -5.3 50.3

SOURCE: National Economic and Development Authority

25
36
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

References to Chapter 1

1. Abrams, M.B. (1970), Reflections on the Universit in the New

Revolution in The Embattled University (eds. Graubard. S.R. & Belloti
A.), New York: George Brazil ler.

2. Black, C.E. (1966), The Dynamics of Modernization. New York:

Harper & Row.

3. Conway, Jill (1970), Styles of Aca,:zmic Culture in The Embattled

University.

4. Cowen, Zelman (1972), The Role and Purpose of the University in

Australian Higher Education (eds. Harman, G.S. & Selby-Smith, C.)
Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

8. Kerr, Clark (1964), The .Uses of University. Cambridge: Harvard

University.

9. Kerr, Clark (1970), Governance and Function in The Embattled

University.

10. Upset, S.M. (1964), The Political Behaviour of University Students

in Developing Nations, Unesco Conference on Students and University
Education in Latin America, Bogota, Columbia, July, 13-19, 1964, p.2.

11. Lipset, S.M. (1972), Rebellion in the University, London: Rout ledge
& Kegan Paul.

12. Luria, S.E. & Luria. Z. (1970), The Role of the University: Ivory
Tower, Service Station, or Frontier Post? in The Embattled University.

13. Mandel. Ernest (1972), The Changing Role of the Bourgeois

University in Countercoursr (ed. Pateman, T.), London: Penguin.

15. Perkins, James A. (1966), The University in Transition. Princeton:

Princeton University Press.

26
3'7
 An overview of the problem of higher education
and employment in the Plithppines

17. Shoben, E.J. (1971), The University and Society in Crisis in Higher
Education (eds. Hodgkinson, H.L. & Bloy, M.B.), San Francisco:
Hossey-Bass.

IS. Trow. Martin (1970), Reflections on the Transition from Mass to

Universal Higher Education in The Embattled University.

38 27
2. The methodological framework of the
study

2.1 The framework and concepts

The set of questions mentioned in the last chapter (Section 1.5) concern
the global relationship between higher education and the world of work.
This education and work linkage was investigated in the HELMS I
survey where both students and graduates expressed the opinion that
the desire to pursue higher education is heavily influenced by the
employment opportunities higher education could open up. Thus, the
continuation of studies is, to some extent, oriented towards obtaining
employment. In this context, those who drop out are not necessarily
those who have not beer able to use their education to improve their
life. On the contrary, it is possible that the level of education already
attained allowed them to find gainful employment or it could be that it
was just a personal preference to forego studying in favour of employ-
ment.
In this study, an analysis of some causal and non-causal variables
has been made in order to suggest a meaningful explanation of the
courses of action taken by the student respondents in HEMS I, i.e.
either (1) completion of studies and obtaining employment: (2) comple-
tion of studies and still in search of gainful employment; (3) discontinu-
ation of studies and taking up employment or discontinuation of studies
without finding work and (4) prolongation of studies. Explanatory vari-
ables of the above-mentioned phenomena could be found in personal

28 39
 The methodological fiameorl, of the study

characteristic: (age, sex, marital status), family background (parents'

education, en ployment and income), community characteristics (home
region, ethnicity, etc.), early educational history (performance in school
examination), and the current educational and employment context.
The perceptions, expectations and attitudes of the individual are also
dependent on the above-mentioned factors. Analysis of this dependence
could contribute to an explanation of the relationship between educa-
tion and present social status. (For graphical presentation, see Figures I
to IV).

40 29
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Figure I. Phenomenon of drop-out

Assessment of college education

College education (type

Age

Sex

Civil status
Drop out
Spouse's education.
occupation & income
Parent's education,
occupation & income
Own early education
(t) Work commitment
(including NCEE score) Oil Financial
(iii) Health
Other reasons for drop-out
(1%) Marriage
Di School environment
(%1) Interest

Figure II. Phenomenon of prolongation of studies.

Assessment of college education

College education (type)

JP
Age

Sex

Civil status
Prolongation
Spouse's education,
occupation & income
Parent's education,
occupation & income

Own early education h) Work commitmen.

(u) Academic
Other reasons for prolongation (Iii) Financial
(wl Marriage
'%) Stud% interruption

30
41
 The methodological frameworh of the study

Figure III. Phenomenon of unemployment.

Assessment of college education

College education (type)

Sex

Civil status
Unemployment
Spouse's education. status
occupation & income
Parent's education.
occupation & income

Own early education

(i) No job opening

Other reasons for unemployment (n) College & type of education.
(iii) Personal connection.
(iv) Unsatisfactory offers.

Figure IV. Phenomenon of employment

Assessment of college education

College education (type)

Age

Sex
(I) Sector
Civil status (n) Occupation
(m) Income
Employment
Spouse's education. (iv) Satisfaction
Occupation & income (v) Relevance
Parent's education. with training
occupation & income

Own early education

Recruitment method

Waiting period

42 31
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Development of a hypothesis involving causal ordering where

possible and measurable would be useful in guiding the analysis
strategy. Often such hypotheses can be made if the meaning of an item
is carefully analyzed within a chronological context. For example, let us
suppose that the objective is to match the occupation that an individual
desired during one's student life with actual occupation he has. One's
perception about the future was dependent on the situation prevailing
at the time concerning oneself, the labour market situation, correspon-
dence of education and employment, etc. Actual occupation is depen-
dent on the present labour market situation and the characteristics a
person possesses at the present time. If a causal relationship is to be
hypothesized between them, it must be in the direction from occupation
desired during college education to the occupation held at present and
not in the other direction.
Another conceptual aspect is the recognition of the fact that
schooling operates sensitive social screening mechanisms causing some
students to drop out, others to continue education, some to try to leave
the school system, but remain unemployed while a good number of the
others get a job. In the last category, schooling also oriented different
groups of students to different types of jobs. In our sample, all the
students started with a college education. The post school situation can
be divided into the following categories:

(a) Those who dropped out of the school system before completing a
degt;...e;

(b) Those who are still in the school system because of their delay in
completing the course;

(c) Those who have successfully completed college education but are
waiting for a job; and

(d) Those who have obtained a job after completing college education.

Among the last category, different types of jobs distinguish

different groups of students.
The first two types relate to the working of the school system
which sorts out students and screens them. The next two types are
related to the working of the labour market system, recruitment and

32 43
 The methodologtral framework of the study

selection criteria, job availability, education-work relevance etc. In the

present study we are analyzing these different types of inequalities as a
global phenomenon.

2.2 The issue of dropout

Students of different socio-economic backgrounds have differ it possi-
bilities of surviving in the system. Although social status is assumed to
be the major factor involved, there is little empirical evidence to justify
this assumption. It is also believed that not only social status, but atti-
tudes, perceptions and expectations influence this phenomenon. The
flow of this influence is demonstrated in Figure I of this chapter.

2.3 The issue of prolonged studies

In the Philippine situation, prolongation of studies may be due to a
number of reasons, i.e. (1) poor academic preparation reading to repeti-
tion or the same course; (2) the prolongation of studies due to a need to
reduce the load for a given time period so as tc obtain good results; (3)
the required subjects are not offered in the particular semester; (4)
changing from one subject specialization to another, and (5) in the case
of the working str dent population, and a phenomenon that is quite
common, the regular course load is too heavy to complete the study in
a given time. For example, in the prestigious Unive-sity of the
Philippines prolongation of studies is not uncomic-1n and the forces at
play may be one or a combination of the above-mentioned factors. The
phenomenon of prolongation is described in Figure Y:.

2.4 The issue of employment vis-a-vis unemployment of

graduates
Democratic access to higher education makes the Philippines among the
few countries of the world with a high proportion of enrolment in
higher education in relation to the national population. The policy of
democratic access has brought aberit a group o students in higher
education wh,:h is heterogeneous not only in terms of socio-economic

33
4.4
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

characteristics, especially the capability to finance collegiate education,

but also of pre-collegiate academic preparation. Likewise, the educa-
tional institutions that cater to the college-bound students are of diverse
kinds. These institutions offer education commensurate to the paying
capacity of the students, as is the case of private higher education which
is almost totally dependent on tuition fees. For the state colleges and
universities, education offered is commensurate to the yearly appropria-
tion from the national government. This unevenness in access to finan-
cial resources is reflected in the inadequacy of physical facilities,
libraries, laboratories etc., as well as the quality of faculty in terms of
credentials, experience and teaching competencies.
In the light of the heterogeneity of students and the diversity of
educational institutions in higher education, it is to be expected that
students who successfully graduate have different levels of skills and
capabilities which are a critical factor in obtain'isg employment.
Employability, therefore, varies with the diversity of the graduates.
This to some extent, is a reason for unemployment of graduates.
Another dimension that explains unemployment is the lack of
demand and the excess of supply for some types of graduates. This is
the so-called mismatch phenomenon which is possibly due to the inade-
quacy of linkage between the education sector, on the one hand, and
business and industry, on the other.
As revealed in the HELMS I survey, the operation of the labour
market is far ;rom ideal. Job availabilities are not widely disseminated
except for those that are advertised in the newspaper. Even these are
not acces:Able to the greater numblr of people because of limited news-
paper circulation and readership. Moreover, the nature of Philippine
society is such that individual contacts facilitate the dissemination of job
information and recruitment. In HELMS I, both the employer and the
employed graduates found that employment initiated through former
teachers, friends and relatives is an effective method of recruitment.
This kind of recruitment is biased in favour of those with connections
in strategically-placed positions in the government, business and
industry. Often, the jcb-seekers are of higher socio-economic status
belonging to privileged groups of society. This recruitment system is
quite disturb;ng, for this may contribute to widening the gap between
the rich and t.le poor. As recommended in the HELMS I Report, there
is a need to have a nationwide employment information, dissemination
and recruitment system.

34
r
45
 The methodological framework of the study

Unemployment may also be voluntary in nature. This is the case

where in-depth analysis . what graduates are doing to secure a job
becomes necessary. The phenomena of unemployment and employ-
ment are indicated in Figures 111 aid IV.
The present HELMS 11 study investigates the various factors that
explain or are related to employment status. These factors may be
socio-economic variables or educational characteristics. Besides the
identification of such variables, it was also deemed desirable to deter-
mine through discriminant analysis the relative weights of the variables
identified. This provides the basis for formulating recommendations for
policy on reducing dropouts, minimizing prolongation of studies where
necessary, providing an equitable system for employment and, finally,
avoiding unemployment.

2.5 The methodology of the study

It is hypothesized that the type of college education pursued by a
student is dependent on his or her age; sex; civil status; number of chil-
dren; spouse's education, occupation and income; parents' education,
occupation and income, the student's own educational background by
level and type, his score in the National College Entrance Examination.
(See Questions 4-11 in the questionnaire in the Appendix for the details
of the item). Attitudes and expectations about college education also
influence the choice of training. (See Question 14). The degree of
dependence of each of these factors can be analyzed by simple cross
tabulations and multivariate analysis, such as discriminant analysis. The
reasons for choosing a particular type of college education, which
include attitudes and expectations, also call for the same type of analysis
as they are also thought to be dependent on individual, family, commu-
nity and parental background, as described above. Such an analysis is
also applicable to dropouts of the system; in this case, the emphasis is
on the reasons for dropping out. The explanatory variables, in addition
to those already mentioned are performance in college and assessment
of college education (Questions 15 and 16). Among the reasons identi-
fied in order to understand their importance in the phenomenon of
dropout are finance, work-commitment, health, marriage, physical envi-
ronment of school, and lack of interest (Question 13). An open item
was added to identify any other reasons. These reasons are analyzed

35
46
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

together with other socio-economic and educational variables gathered

for the survey. A combination of the two types of analyses is expected
to provide the reasons for dropout.
The phenomena of prolongation of studies and unemployment
were also analyzed in the same way as above. A set of reasons was
predetermined and their relative importance identified. Fo; the former
these were: work-commitment, academic, financial, marital status. inter-
ruption of studies for other reasons. An open item was also added to
provide a check on completeness of the answer (Question 12). For the
latter (Questions 44-48), identifiable reasons belonged to four groups:
(1) type of college education (status of college, type of training
including work experience), (2) general unemployment situation in the
region, (3) social status of the individual namely, lack of connections.
family situation and (4) attitudinal, namely, lack of interest in looking
for a job or low salary offered. There is evidence that not all unem-
ployment is due to lack of job opportunities. Graduates may refuse a
job offer for sever other reasons, not only economic but also educa-
tional and family related (Questions 47-48). Sometimes unemployment
is due merely to personal preference. Since a lot of investment is put
into educating an individual, steps should be taken to enhance the
employability of graduates. A person's contribution to society is gener-
ally measured in terms of his being engaged in some productive and
constructive undertakings, an exception being the case of educated
housewives who are not employed but contribute substantially to the
welfare of the family and the betterment of society.
Analysis of the phenomenon of employment requires a deeper
perception of the employment process such as recruitment practice
(Question 34), the waiting period before getting the first job (Questions
32-33), relevance of the training to obtaining the job and performing
the relevant tasks (Questions 37, 38-40), and the relationship between
training and the specialization closest to the type of tasks performed
(Question 33). This shows the flexibility of the labour market input of
certain kinds of jobs, e.g. top administrators, posts needing a lot of
versatility etc.., and the flexibility of certain fields of studies e.g. liberal
arts, business and management studies, social sciences; types of speciali-
zation which offer a general background to provide the basis to grasp
new skills more quickly as the situation calls for them. This also
provides evidence of the phenomenon of 'mismatch' where a graduate
is bound to accept a job even if it does not correspond with hi', qualifi-

36 ,
47
 The methodological framework of the study

cations at a sacrifice on his part and the employer for lack of suitable
graduates is obliged to appoint someone and has to provide special
orientation programmes on-the-job. This type of 'mismatch' can be
analyzed only by an assessment of the relevance of training as perceived
by the graduates and the employers. That is, the difference between
specialization received in college and the specialization needed on-the-
job, or closest to the job performed, has to be further analyzed in rela-
tion to the perceived relevance of the training and the degree of
satisfaction of graduates and employees (Questions 37-43). One short-
coming of the present study is that we have not included the employers
in the HELMS 11 survey, though we have that information from
HELMS I, and presumably the data have not changed much between
1978 and 1981. The degree of satisfaction enjoyed by graduates from a
job does not always depend on monetary benefits. Jobs are often satis-
factory if they provide opportunities for further development through
opportunities for further schooling or to attain desired objectives, if
they provide security in life, allow for leisure and time for the family,
or simply have a good working environment. These factors are
analyzed for their importance as perceived by the graduates (Question
43). .

Finally, the employment prcuss is supposed to offer upward social

mobility through increased earnings. Empirical evidence of personal
income distribution shows that education has an influence on earnings.5
In the case of the Philippines, it is important to know to what extent
edu.ation could contribute through employment benefits in the democ-
ratization of the citizenry, given the socio-political structure. An earn-
ings function, with variables related to the socio-economic status of
graduates and their educational background, has been developed in this
study.

5 For example. G.S. Sahota.`Theories of personal income distribution: A

curve)', Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XVI. March 1970. pp.1-55.

37

48
 Employment and careet opportunities after graduation

2.6 The data needs

It is clear from the above analysis strategy tnat the data needed can best
be collected through questionnaire surveys, as was bone out by the
experience of HELMS 1 and other IIEP studies. The questionnaire used
is given in the Appendix. The rationale for each question and the ques-
tions themselves, stem from the analysis strategy. Reference to HELMS
I is made wherver comparison with HELMS I data is necessary. In
preparing the questionnaire, sufficient care was taken to check for
validity and consistency by pre-testing.

2.7 The sampling process

The samples in this study were taken from the HELMS I files of 9,105
student respondents. These student respondents were classified across
degree programmes i.e. agriculture, business administration, medicine,
social sciences. etc. and by typology of schools, i.e. state colleges and
universities and, for private schools, classification was based on whether
the schools are Catholic, Protestant or a foundation. A matrix was
constructed based on the curricular programme classification and the
tyrology of educational institutions and a sample was fitted into each
cell using the following sampling scheme:

Sampling fraction-HELMS 1 Students

per cent
10 1 000 and over
20 101-999
30 76-99
40 51-75
50 31-50
75 16-30
100 1-15

After constructing the sample matrix table, it was noted that there
were empty cellos, i.e. cells in the matrix without an sample across
academic programme and college typology. To remed the situation, a

38

49
 The methodological framework of the study

sample was taken from the graduates in academic programmes and

college typology similar to the HELMS I respondents. A total sample
of 2,598 was obtained as follows:

Response
Sample Rate

1. State Education Sector

1.1 University of the
Philippines 650 51.69 per cent
1.2 Other State Colleges
and Universities 290 44.14 per cent
2. Private Education
2.1 Protestant 152 43.42 per cent
2.2 Catholic 480 43.12 per cent
2.3 Proprietary 901 56.60 per cent
2.4 Foundation 125 35.2 per cent

Total 2 598 49.42 per cent

Of the total 2,598 in the sample 1,284 sent valid responses giving a
response rate of 49.42 per cent. The profile of the respondents is
shown in Table 2.1
A comparison of the distribution of respondents between the
HELMS I and II is also shown in Table 2.1. One may notice that in
HELMS II, there is, percentage wise, a higher up representation from
4.18 per cent in HELMS I to 26.2 per cent in HELMS II. The main
reason was to take the University of the Philippines (being the main
university) graduates as the reference point for all graduates and
University of the Philippines graduates were therefore selected from all
curricular programmes. The response rate of the University of the
Philippine was 51.69 per cent which is higher than the overall response
rate cf 49.47 per cent.

50 39
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

2.8 Editing and coding operations

The editing and coding operations were undertaken h a highly-trained
team. The v.diting guidelines and coding schemes were adapted from
HELMS 1, with some revisions to suit the. new set of questions.
These operations were not without their own set of problems: (1)
some items were left unanswered; (2) there were inconsistencies in the
answers; (3) some respondents failed to follow instructions in the
accomplishment of the survey sheet; (4) data on income was inaccurate;
(5) irrelevant entries were made; and (6) some items confused the
respondents e.g. occupational and industrial classification.
These constraints, 'however, were remedied by follow-up calls to
the respondents or by looking at the other items in the questionnaire
for verification.

2.9 EDP operations

The data processing hr the Tracer Study was done by the technical staff
using an ECLIPSE 150 machine which is a ",:ey-to-disk-tape system.
Data 'from the questionnaire were first encoded, then run through a
validation programme to verify the data. The creation of the masterfile
followed along with the production of marginals using a packaged
programme called the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
The statistical tables required for th- study were patterned on the
HELMS I:Report.

2.10 Presentation of the results

The results of the analysis are reported in the following five Chapters:
Chapter 3 presents the phenomenon of transition of students from
college to the world of work and c'eals with those individuals who
obtained employment. 'Chapter 4 deals with the same individuals in an
analysis of the role college education played in career promotion. The
problem of those graduates who did not find employment is dealt with
in Chapter 5. Those who dropped out of the system and those who are
still continuing their studies are the subject of analysis in Chapter 6.
Chapter 7 deals with the phenomenon of matching the expectations of

40
J'
 The methodological frameorl, of dr study

individuals with the realities of their working life. The principal find-
ings of the follow-up survey are reported in Chapter 8 while Chapter 9
gives the latest economic and employment situation of the Philippines
to allow the findings to be placed in their proper context. The
concluding Chapter put forward the policy implications for higher
education and employment.

r''

.52 41
A
t.)
Table 2.1: Profile of respondents

Male Female Total HELMS 11

Type of College HELMS 1

N % N % N % %

1. Public Education Sector

1.1 U.P. 161 30.6 175 231 336 26.2 4.18

1.2 Other State Colleges

and Universities 35 6.6 86 11 4 121 94 8.67

2 Private Education Sector

21 Catholic 70 14.8 129 17 0 207 16.1 27 40

2.2 Prost*nt 28 5.3 38 5.0 66 5.1 3.37

23 Proprietary 200 38.0 310 41.0 510 39.7 55.03

24 Foundation 25 4.7 19 2.5 44 3.4 1.34

3 Total 527 41 0 757 59 0 1284 99 9 100

7 '1
...1 ...)
3. Transition from college to the world
of work

In -depth studies on employed graduates were conducted in HELMS I to

analyze the adjustment and flexibility of the labour ma:Ket. Some of
the graduates surveyed were of pre-war vintage, while others were from
the 1975-1976 batch. HELMS I, therefore, covered a longer span of
time than HELMS 11, which restricted itself to the period from schoo-
lyear 1978-1979 to the time of the survey in 1980-1981. This recent
evaluation of the labour market is significant, because it provides a basis
for assessing market behaviour between HELMS I in 1978 and HELMS
11 in 1981 and for formulating guidelines for new graduates who are
entering the labour market. It can provide feedback to the education
sector and, at the same time facilitate the transition of graduates from
the academic community to the real world of work. It can heighten the
contribution of education to the productive sector by making the tran-
sition smoother, more efficient and within a shorter time span.

3.1 Characteristics of employed graduates

3.1.1 Age, sex and civil status of employed grad ..tes

The biggest number of the employed graduates in the sample belong to

the age bracket 20-23 (48.5 per cent) followed by 42.6 per cent in the
age racket 24-27. (For details, see Table 3.1). The mean age of 24.15
is lower than the mean age of graduates in HELMS I of 32.6. Since

43
54
 1:mployment and career opportunities after graduation

most of the employed graduates are in the age bracket 20-23. this indi-
,.ates that the majority of employed graduates finished their -Jurses on
time.
The employed graduates are precsorninantly single (84.3 per cent)
and female (59 per cent). (For details, ste Tables 3.2 and 3.3).
The dominance of females in employment, as well as among drop-
outs, was highly pronounced even in HELMS I. In the first study, only
50.10 per cent were female compared to 59 per cent in HELMS II.
These statistics do not prove that females have better chances for
employment. The preponderance of females among employed gradu-
ates is due to the sample used in " irvey which comprised 59 per
cent females, thus reflecting their r., crninance in higher education in
the Philippines.

3.1.2 The married employed graduates

Of the employed graduates, 15.6 per cent were married, much lower
than the percentage of married graduates among college dropouts (35.7
per cent). The educational attainments of the spo-. ses were mainly in
the fields of engineering and technology (23.0 r er cent), business
administration (22 per cent), and the medical scie! es X14.0 per cent).
Professional, technica! and related workers (39.2 per cent) ranked
high as an occupation among the spouses of employed graduates, much
higher than among the spouses of college dropouts (15.8 per cent).
Next in ranking are the non-working housewives (17.6 per cent) and the
clerical related workers (14.4 per cent). Spouses of college dropouts
held jobs in production, transport and related fields (26.3 per cent) and
clerical jobs (21.0 per cent). One can infer from the data that
employed graduates have a great tendency to marry professionals,
whereas college dropouts tend to marry clerks and people engaged in as
production, transportation and relh.ed jobs. This phenomenon is prob-
ably an indication of prevalent social values.
As to the industrial classification of employees among the spouses
of employed graduates, they tend to he concentrated in community,
social and personal services (53.2 per cent) which is also true of the
spouses of college dropouts but less so amounting to only 38.8 per cent.
e mean income (P1,771.30) of the spouses of employed gradu-
ates f table 3.4) is far higher than the mean income (P,,370.15) of the

44 55
 From college to the world of work

spouses of college dropouts. It is also much higher than the mean

income of the employed graduates (P.1,096.68). Possibly, the higher
income of the spouse is a motivating factor for marriage. Note,
however, that there are slightly more female employed graduates who
are married, whose respective male spouses have a higher income than
the female spouse of the male employed graduates.

3.1.3 Parental background of employed graduates

The majority (58.7 per cent) of the fathers of the employed graduates
reached college. Only 23.5 per cent of the fathers had a high school
terminal education, while 17.8 per cent had an elementary education.
On the other hand, 51 per cent and 55.6 per cent of the fatl --s of the
unemployed graduates and those on prolonged studies respectively,
went to college. A much lower percentage of the fathers of college
dropouts had college education (35.3 per cent) while 37 per cent had a
terminal high education and 27.8 per cent had only elementary
schooling. (For details, see Table 3.5).
Fathers of employed graduates tended to be in the field of law and
foreign service (27.0 per cent), business administration (22.2 per cent),
and engineering and technology (23.5 per ce..t). It is quite interesting,
in analyzing the collegiate background of the fathers of employed grad-
uates, that there is a marked shift in course preference from father to
children. As cited, the fathers of employed graduates favoured law rid
foreign service (27.0 per cent), a preference retained by 25 per cent of
the fathers of college dropouts. The children tended to change fields, as
shown in the following statistics: only 4.3 per cent of the employed
graduates, 3.6 per cent of the college dropouts and 2.5 per cent of the
students on prolonged studies, were taking up law and foreign service.
What continued to be very popular was commerce and business
administration. For the fathers of the employed graduates, 22.2 per
cent concentrated in business administration and 21.1 per cent of the
employed graduates had taken this course. Engineering and technology
was popular for the fathers (23.5 per i.cnt) but less so for the children
(15.4 per cent). (For details, see Table 3.6). On the other hand,
medical sciences have increased in popularity, with 10.6 per cent of the
fathers and 17.1 per cent of the children in this field of specialization,
(i.e. the employed graduates).

56 45
 Empilvonent and career opportunities after graduation

Teacher education was a common field of specialization among

mothers of employed graduates, with 59.6 per cent of them having
opted to take the course. The corresponding figure for mothers of
dropouts is 50 per cent and students on prolonged studies 22.2 per cent.
There was a dramatic decline in popularity of teacher education where
the young ones were concerned. Only 12.7 per cent of the employed
graduates, 16.4 per cent of the dropouts and 2.5 per cent of the students
on prolonged studies had chosen teacher education as their course.
Occupationally, the fathers of employed graduates were engaged as
professional, technical and related workers (27.6 per cent). This was
also true of the fathers of dropouts (20 per cent), the students on
prolonged studies 17.5 per cent, and the unemployed graduates. The
next popular occupations of the fathers of employed graduates were
executive, administrative and managerial work (16.4 per cent), agricul-
ture (14.1 per cent), sales (12.1 per cent), production, transportation
and related work (11.6 per cent). (For details, see Table 3.71, It is
quite significant that a big percentage of the fathers of dropouts (27.3
per cent) and the unemployed (18.8 per cent) were engaged in agricul-
ture. The inference is that the children of agriculture workers are more
likely to drop out of school or remain unemployed.
Father's occupation has some variations across typology of schools.
As shown in Table 3.8, the major occupation of the fathers of the
employed graduates from the University of the Philippines is in profes-
sional, technic?' and related jobs (45.8 per cent) and administrative,
executive and managerial positions (24.2 per cent), amounting to a total
of 70 per cent in these two topmost occupational classifications. The
corresponding percentage for those coming from other government
schools is 19.8 per cent, Catholic schools 45.8 per cent, Protestant
schools 38.3 per cent, proprietary schools 32.5 per cent and foundation
type of institutions 20 as shown.
As shown in Table 3.5, the mothers of the employed graduates just
like the mothers of the unemployed graduates, the dropouts and those
cn prolonged studies have a much lower level of education than 1.;le
father. For the employed graduates, only 45.3 per cent of the mothers
had a college education, 29.5 per cent with only high school education
and 25.2 per cent elementary schooling. The mothers of the college
dropouts have the least schooling, only 21.2 per cent had college educa-
tion, 34.6 per cent high school and 44.2 per cent elementary,

46 57
 From college to the world of work

For the mothers with college education, the predominant speciali-

zation is teacher education (59.6 per cent). followed by medical sciences
(17.1 per cent) and business administration 11.4 per cent (see Table
3.61.
The mothers of the employed graduates, like the mothers of drop-
outs, unemployed graduates and students on prolonged studies, are
mainly non-working housewives. The corresponding percentages are
58.5 per cent for employed graduates, 64 per cent for dropouts, 60.3
per cent for unemployed and 63.4 per cent for students on prolonged
studies.
For the working mothers of the employed graduates, the most
preferred occupation is professional, technical and related work (18.8
per cent). The figure is lower for mothers of students on prolonged
studies (7.3 per cent), dropouts (3.8 per cent) and the unemployed (15.6
per cent). One can infer from these statistics that children of executive,
administrative and managerial positions are likely to succeed in college
and get employment. (See Table 3.7).
Community, social and personal services rank number one in the
inoustrial classification of employers of the fathers of employed gradu-
ates (34.R per cent). (For details, see Table 3.9). This is also the
number one category (28.7 per cent) for the employers of ti e parents
of the unemployed. Agriculture employs more of the fathers of college
.ropouts (27.3 per cent) and those on prolonged studies (32.3 per cent)
than the employed graduates (16.9 per cent). Note that manufacturing
(8.6 per cent) is low on the scale as employer of the fathers of
employed graduates compared to 9.7 per cent of the parents of students
on prolonged studies and 21.2 per cent of the dropouts, and it is the
third ranking employer for the fathers of the unemployed. This again
reinforces the thesis that fathers engaged in agriculture and manufac-
turing have children who are likely to drop out of school and, even as
graduates, will likely be unemployed.
Variation of industrial classification of tne employer of the parents
of employed graduates across typology of schools indicates tt it the
difference is only a matter of degree. with community services being
more predominant for the University of Philippines graduates (41.9 per
cent) compared to 27.3 per cent for the graduates of Catholic schools,
31.3 per cent for the Protestant, 33.5 per cent for the proprietary
schools and 27.8 per cent for the foundation type of educational institu-
tion. The agriculture sector ranks second for all except the graduates of
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

the Catholic schools and University of the Philippines. For the

University of Philippines graduates, the second ranking industrial classi-
fication is financing and business while, for the Catholic schools, it is
the wholesale and retail trade. (For details, see Table 3.10.
The majority of the mothers of ail school leavers are in the
community, social and personal services ii iustrial classification. The
breakdown: 82.9 per cent for employed grauuates, 73.9 per cent for
dropouts, 79.1 per cent for the unemployed and 72.5 per cent for
students on prolonged studies.
The gross monthly income of fathers of employed graduates aver-
ages P.3,187.77 which is higher than the average income of the fathers
of unemployed graduates (P.2,729.13) and college dropouts (P,938.40).
(For details, see Table 3.11). The data reveal that children of lower
income .groups are likely to be college dropouts and, should they grad-
uate, are more likely to be unemployed.
The income distribution of parents of employed gr...ivates varies
across typology of schools. As shown in Tables 3.12 and 3.13 and
graphically presented in Figure V, the parents of the University of the
Philippines graduates have the highest income and a better income
distribution, followed by the parents of the graduates of Catholic
schools, proprietary schools, foundations, Protestant schools and the
other state colleges and universities. This is not surprising since 70 per
cent of the fathers of the University of the Philippines graduates come
from the topmost occupations, viz. professional, technical and mana-
gerial, execut!ve and administrative positions. The average income of
the mothers of employed graduates showed that it is the highest of the
thre,' categories at P.1,876.76, followed by the mothers of the unem-
ployed graduates, P.1,592.76 and the lowest of them all, mothers of
dropouts at P.586.66. Thus, the total for the parents of graduates is
much higher at P.5,064.53, than for the parents of the unemployed
graduates, P.4,321.89, and the college dropouts P.1,525.06.
The annual changes in salary of the parents of employed graduates
are much higher than that of the parents of the unemployed or of
college dropouts.

48
c
 From college to the w,rld of work

3.1.4 Education of employed graduates

The pre-college prt paration of employed graduates can be gauged by

analyzing the percentile scores in the National College Entrance
Examinatior (NCEE). The mean score of the employed graduates in
NCEE was 91.7 per cent with a standard deviation (S.D.) of 12.7. For
the unemployed graduates, the mean scare was 86.17, S.D. = 17.08
and for the college dropouts, 76.30, S.D. = 18.35. The implication f
the data is that those who scored high in the NCEE were likely to
succeed in college and obtain employment. For University of the
Philippines graduates, it is as high as 99.6 per cent, other government
schools 70 per cent, Catholic schools 61.1 per cent, Protestant 90 3 per
cent, proprietary schools 40.4 per cent and foundation type of i nstitu-
tion 91.9 per cent.
The lower standard deviation among the employed gradua tes Indi-
cates that the employed graduates are more homogeneous as a group
than tile unemployed graduates and college dropouts.
In-depth analysis of NCEE scores across the typology of schools
indicates that the University of the Philippines is producing the high
achievers with 99.6 per cent of the employed zraduates in the 91-99
percentile in NCEE. For the employed graduates from other govern-
ment schools, it is 70 per cent, Catholic 61.1 per cent, Protestant 90.3
per cent, Proprietary schools 40.4 per cent and foundation type of
educational institutions 91.9 per cent. (For details, see Table 3.14).
Those with the least academic ..:hievement in term of NCEE scores
were graduates of proprietary schools with 33.3 pe cent on the 80th
percentile and below. Those below the 80th pe centile from other
government schools represent 26.8 per cent, Cath lic schools, 15.8 per
cent, Protestant 9.7 per cent and foundation type of institution 5.4 per
;ent. For the University of the Philippines, n one is found in the
score bracket of below the 80th percentile NCE E. In short, the private
schools and the other government schools ca ter to a more heteroge-
neous group of academic achievers, while the University of Philippines
serves the intellectual elite.

6
49
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Figure V, Income distribution of the Fathers of employed graduates

Monthly Income
Bracket
A
4,000

2,000-2,999--
4. /
4,c\ ,/
B7 .i '
_

1 S 7--- A.
01 .P**/

1,500-1,999-

1,000-1,499

,
,
500-999

Less than
'

el'
AV
,."
I
0. A(
e;--
/
,e

500

20 40 60 80 I00
Cumulative Percentage

61
50
 From college to the 4,orld of worn

Emrloyed graduates come from various types of high schools

categorized into public high schools, private sectarian high schools and
private non-sectarian high schools. The majority (56.3 per cent) of the
graduates from the University of the Ph:lippines come frcm private
sectarian schools. (For details, see Table 3.151. On the other hand, the
graduates from other government colleges and universities come mainly
from public high schools (60.5 per cent), with 25.6 per cent from
private sectarian high schools and the rest from private non-sectarian
high schools. Understandably, the employed graduates from Catholic
and Protestao, colleges come from private sectarian high schools, at
64.5 per cent and 50 per cent respectively. Employed graduates from
proprietary colleges have a balanced distribution with 36.8 per cent of
them coming from public high schools, 33.2 per cent from private
sectarian high schools and 30 per cent private, non-sectarian high
schools. The only group of private colleges and universities that caters
mostly to public high school graduates (80 per cent) is the foundation
type of institution. The other 20 per cent come from private non-
sectarian high schools.
A third of the employed graduates come from the proprietary
colleges (35.9 per cent) followed by the University of the Philippines
(29.7 per cent) and the Catholic colleges (14.7 per cent). In the distri-
bution of the sample selected for the survey there were 39.7 per cent
from proprietary colleges, 26.2 per cent from the University of the
Philippines, 16.1 per cent from Catholic colleges 9.4 per cent from
other government colleges, 5.1 per cent from protestant and 1 1 per
cent from foundation type of institutions. Thus the percentage of
employed graduates coming from proprietary, Catholic and Protestant
colleges is lower than the percentage chosen for the sample. On the
other hand, the percentage of employed graduates from the University
of the Philippines, other government colleges and foundat'm type of
institutions is higher than the percentage in the sample. One can infer
from this that graduates of the University of the Philippines, other
government schools and foundation type of institutions have better
chances of getting employment than those from private schools. (For
details, see Tables 3.161.
Among the University of the Philippines graduates, social sciences
and medicine are the top-ranking fields of specialization with 18.8 per
cent and 18.4 per cent respectively. This is followed by engineering and
technology (16.9 per cent) and business administration (10.9 per cent).

6l 51
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

The other fields of specialization of the University of the Philippines

graduates are law and foreign service (9 per cent), physic and biolo-
gical sciences (6 per cent), agriculture 5.3 per cent, teams education
3.8 per cent, other liberal arts courses 3 per cent and music and fine
arts 2.6 per cent. (For details, see Table 3.17.
The graduates of du_ other state colleges and universities are
concentrated in teacher education 71.6 per cent, agriculture 11.8 per
cent, engineering and technology 8.8 per cent, business administration,
5.0 per cent and food, nutrition and dietetics (2 per cent).
Business administration and commerce graduates constitute the
bulk of graduates from Catholic and proprietary colleges, with 22 per
cent and 36.8 per cent respectively, but for the graduates of Protestant
colleges, commerce (21.4 per cent) ranked second to social science (26.2
per cent). Medical science graduates ranked second amongst the gradu-
ates of Catholic (17.4 per cent) and proprietary colleges (23.6 per cent).
The other predominant major field of concentration among the gradu-
ates of private educational institutions is engineering and technology,
with 18.2 per cent of the graduates of. proprietary colleges in this
category. Agriculture as a major field of concentration is the least
preferred among the graduates of Protestant (4.8 per cent), Catholic
(0.8 per cent) and proprietary colleges (0.3 per cent). However, it
constitutes the bulk of graduates for the foundation type of educational
institutions (97.3 per cent). (For details, see Table 3.171
Degree preferences across sex revealed tin. the male dominated
degree programmes are agriculture, engineering and technology, law
and foreign service, and physical aryl, biological sciences. The degree of
male dominance is very pronou zed in engineering and technology
(34.6 per cent are male while females account for only 2.6 per cent).
On the other hand, females are predominant in teacher education,
wherein 17.9 per cent of the graduates are female compared to only 4.8
per cent male, business administration (24.9 per cent female versus
15.3 per cent male) and medical science (20.6 per cent female and only
11.9 per cent males). 1 he ether fields of specialization where there was
a female pi edominance was nutrition, social science and other liberal
arts courses. (For details, see Table 3.18.

63
52
 From college so the world of work

3.1.5 Reasons for course preference of employed graduates

All the employed graduates considered employment prospects as the

biggest factor affecting course preference. Courses providing a wider
range of career opportunities ranked second, followed by social prestige,
family influence and the influence exerted by friends. There is no vari-
ation in ranking across college typology, only a variation in relative
numerical weight. (For details, see Table 3.19)
While the majority of employed graduates had personally chosen
the course they completed, there was a small minority who failed to
take their preferred courses. The main reason for this was financial in
nature. The only exception was the University of Philippines where
students were not affected by financial constraints, since m.st of them
belong to higher income brackets compared to students of other
schools. At the University of Philippines, the most common reason for
not pursuing preferred courses were the folk,wing: changing one's
mind, parental influence and poor grades (For details, see Table 3.20).

3.2 Means of obtaining a job

In HELMS 1, the predominant means to ol,tain a job ran'',ed in order of
importance were as follows:

(a) friend's/relative's recommendation

(b) company personnel office

(c) teacher's/instructor's recommendation

(d', school placement office

(e) Government placement office

Retaining the above-menricned classification, HELMS II results

showed a slight differencr. On the whole, the company personnel office
ranked number 1, followed by friend's/relative's recommendation,
teacher's/instructor's recommendation, school placement office and
government placement office. There is no difference in ranking of
importance between male and female graduates

64 53
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Across typology of college, there are some interesting differences.

The company personnel office ranked number 1 as a means of getting a
job for graduates from University of Philippines and Catholic colleges
(For details, see Table 3.21). For the graduates of the Protestant and
foundation type of institutions, it was teacher's/instructor's recommen-
dation. On the other hand, friend's/ relative's recommendation is the
most effective means of getting a job from the point of view of the
graduates of proprietary colleges. The graduates of other government
colleges attested that the services offered by the government and school
placement office is a far more effective way of getting a job compared
to the company's personnel office and teachers' recommendation. This
may be attributed to the fact that most of the graduates of other
government colleges are in teacher training programmes, the predomi-
nant user of which is the network of public elementary schools.
The emergence of the company Personnel office as a more effec-
tive means of getting a job seems to reveal a trend toward the use of the
institutional mechanism as a means of secui ing employment as against
the personalized vehicle of recommendation from friends, relatives and
teachers.

3.3 Waiting period

The waiting period was categorized as follows: (1) from the time of
graduating to the time of employment and (2) from the time a graduate
actively began to look for work to the time of employment. Under the
latter category, the waiting period in HELMS II has been substantially
reduced to two months compared to six months in HELMS I.
The average waiting period after graduation was a little over a
year. However, the waiting period from the time graduates actively
looked for work was only two months. Some 72.6 per cent of the grad-
uates were employed two months after actively looking for a job, 84.3
per cent after four months, 92.7 per cent after six months, and 98.5 per
cent after ane year (For details, see Table 3.22). The waiting period
varies across the typology of educational institutions. Within two
months, 85.5 per cent of the graduates of University of Philippines were
employed, a figure considerably higher than the 72.5 per cent for the
graduates of Cztholic colleges, 5G per cent for protestant, 65.8 per cent
for proptietary and 75.36 per cent for graduates of other state colleges
and universities (For details, see Tables 3.22 and 3.231.

54 65
 From college to the vorld of wad%

The reasons behind the long waiting period are as follows:

Degree of Importance
1. Low salary offer 2.13
2. Little or no opportunity
for advancement 2.70
3. Unsatisfactory working
conditions 2.82
4. No job opportunity 3.06
5. Job too far from home 3.38

(1 = the highest rank and 5 = the lowest)

The above ranking of importance of reasons applies during the

first two months after graduates actively looked for a job, and varies
with the length of waiting. For those who waited four months, no job
opportunity is ranked third and poor working conditions is ranked
fourth. For those who waited for six months and beyond, no job oppor-
tunity turns out to be the most important reason. Low salary offer,
little opportunity for advancement and poor working conditions are
secondary considerations. The least important factor is the distance of
the place of work from home.
Across college typology, the reasons for the long waiting period
vary slightly. Graduates of the University of Philippines, sectarian
educational institutions and other state colleges and universities consider
opportunity for advancement of great importance. Graduates of
proprietary colleges do not share this concern. Graduates of sectarian
colleges display some uniqueness: they attach greater importance to the
job distance from home over the working conditions. These varying
concerns are possibly reflective of the values inculcated in the respective
;nstitutions.
A critiques made during the HELMS II workshop provided the
following rationalization of the above-mentioned concerns:

6 Dr. Conrad() P. Aquino. President of the University of the East and the
Co-olinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA).

66 55
 Employment and came, opportunities after graduation

(a) 'perhaps because the majority of the clientele of the proprietary

colleges belong to the middle income group or below, having a
steady job is more important than opportunity for advancement.'
The data contained herein supports the contention that students of
proprietary colleges are from lower income groups than those of
the University of Philippines.

(b) 'proprietary schools do not motivate their graduates enough to

aspire to advancement'

(c) the more affluent students who go to the other colleges have a
stronger drive for the prestige and power that money (higher salary
or returns) gives.'

3.3.1 Explanatory variables of waiting period

Possible explanatory variables were identified that might possibly

explain the waiting period. These variables are typology of college
(University of Philippines, proprietary, Catholic, Protestant, other
government colleges and foundations), academic self-assessment, NCEE
score, length of time after graduation and sex. Using these variables, a
regression equation was constructed as follows:

n2
.P.
W.P. = a+ a x . + a 21 . x 21 . + li
E1 11 11 E
i=1 i=1

W.P. = waiting period, the dependent variable

xli is a set of personal variables, viz. sex, age, home renjon , etc.

x2i is a set of educational variables, viz. typology of college, academic

self-assessment, NCEE score and length of time after graduation.

g is the error term.

67
56
 From college to the world of work

Using the above-mentioned variables, a regression analysis was

made with three models: one for all employed graduates, and one each
for male and female. The results showed that for all graduates, only
two variables have some statistical significance in explaining the waiting
period. These variables are (1) University of Philippines graduates and
(2) graduates from Protestant schools with F < 4. Being a graduate of
the University of Philippines has a negative relationship with the
waiting period, which means that the University of Philippines gradu-
ates have a shorter waiting period than the graduates of Protestant
colleges which have a positive relationship with the waiting period.
(For details, see Table 3.24). All other variables have no statistical
significance in explaining the waiting period.
For the male graduates, the variables that are statistically signifi-
cant in explaining the waiting period are, alleges typology, i.e.
University of Philippines, proprietary, Catholic and other government
colleges. All show a negative relationship, which means that male gradu-
ates from these institutions have a shorter waiting period. The female
graduates have only one variable that is statistically significant in
explaining the waiting period, i.e. being a graduate of a Protestant
college.
The R2 for all employed graduates is 0.08599, males 0.11422 and
females 0.1181 (see Table 3.25). This means that the above-mentioned
variables explained only from 8.5 per cent to 11.81 per cent of waiting
period. There are other variables that explain the waiting period which
were not taken into account in the regression model, because of identi-
fication difficulties.

3.4 Assessment of college education and utilization of

training

3.4.1 Assessment of college performance and instruction

Except for University of Philippines graduates, the majority (63.0 per

cent) of the college graduates consider their college performance
average, i.e. 80-85 per cent; 33.3 per cent considered themselves above
average and 1.8 per cent excellent. The below average college perform-
ance group is only 1.8 per cent (For details, see Table 3.26). The distri-

68 57
 Employment an'! career opportunities after graduation

bution is similar to HELMS I with 67.63 per cent of them considerc,1 as

average, 28.15 per cent above average, 1.6 per cent excellent, but only
2.53 below average.
The self-assessment of college performance has some slight varia-
tion across college typology. Whereas the majority of the graduates of
other state colleges and universities and all private colleges considered
themselves as average students, only 44.6 per cent of the University of
Philippines graduates evaluated themselves as average students. The
bulk (49.4 per cent) of the Univrrsity of Philippines feel that they are
above average students. The corresponding percentage for the graduates
of other state college and universities is 23.5 per cent. Catholic 33.1 per
cent, Protestant 31 per cent, Proprietary 26 per cent and foundation
13.5 per cent (For details, see Table 3.271.
On the content of instruction, 47.2 per cent considered it adequate,
36.1 per cent very adequate, and 9.8 per cent excellent. On the
negative side, 4.9 per cent considered the content as barely adequate
and 2.0 per cent inadequate (For details, see Table 3.28). This rating is
similar to the HELMS I data, save for the increasing number who
considered the content of instruction inadequate or barely adequate. In
HELMS 1, less than 1 per cent (1.'.45 per cent) considered the content of
instruction inadequate. In HELMS 11, the percentage has risen to 2.0
per cent. The judbment of barely adequate has likewise gone up from
3.21 per cent in HELMS I to 4.9 per cent in HELMS II. One can infer
from this trend that there is a decline in the quality of content of
instruction.
With respect to the method of instruction, the judgn !nt is that
there has been a deterioration as shown by the shift downward of the
excellent rating. In HELMS I, 35.18 per cent considered the method
very adequate and 9.62 per cent excellent. In HELMS 11, the rating for
the method of instruction as very adequate went down to 34.2 per cent
and excellent to 8.7 per cent. Also, the opinion that the method was
inadequate has gone up from 1.01 per cent in HELMS Ito 3.1 per cent
in HELMS II. Likewise, there were more who considered the method
of instruction as barely adequate. This has ;tone up from 4.1Q per cent
in HELMS Ito 5.9 per cent in HELMS 11.
Across typology of college, there was a slight variation in the
assessment of content of instruction. The majority of the graduates of
Protestant, proprietary and foundation colleges considered the content
of instruction as adequate, but fat the University of Philippines, a

58 e9
 From college to the world of wort;

greater percentage (44.7 per cent) considered the content of instruction

to be very adequate and 16.5 per cent excellent (For details, see Table
3.28).
The variation across typology of college with respect to the method
of instruction follows the same trend as the variation on the assessment
of the content of instruction For details, see Table 3.29).
The assessment of the ,-ontent and method of instruction made by
the employed graduates in HELMS 1 and H are quite reasonable and
reliable, unlike the evaluation by the college dropouts when: 37.5 per
cent considered the content as excellent and 50 per cent considered the
method of instruction as excellent.

3.4.2 Usefulness of education and training

The employed graduates were asked tte extent of the relevance of

education and training to their present jobs. A small group (2.6 per
cent) felt that educational qualifications were not necessary for
obtaining a job, and 4.0 per cent indicated that educational qualifica-
tions are barely necessary (For details, see Table 3.30). A big majority
however indicated that educational qualifications are necessary as shown
by the following response pattern

Necessary 22.3 per cent

Very necessary 57.3 per cent
Extraordinarily .-,-.:essz. y 13.8 per cent

Between male and female graduates, the evaluation of the useful-

ness of educational qualifications in relation to the present job was
substantially similar with slightly more males (15.3 per cent compared
to females of only 12 7 per cent) conveying that educational lualifica-
tions were extraordinar; i necessary for the present job.
Across the typology of college, the employed graduates from
University of Philippines valued their educational qualifications a lot
more than all other graduates. There were 18.1 per cent of the gradu-
ates of University of Philippines who feel that educational qualifications
are extraordinarily necessary compared to the overall evaluation of 13.8
per cent (For details, see Table 3.31). The graduates of catholic schools
ranked next to University of Philippines graduates in ranking educa-

70 59
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

tional qualifications as extraordinarily necessary (15.3 per cent). For all

the graduates, educational qualifications were considered as merely
necessary, less than 10 per cent considered them as very necessary.
A question was also asked to compare formal versus non-formal
training: (1) a small percentage (4 per cent) expressed the view that
formal training was not necessary for the present job; (2) a slightly
higher percentage (13.2 per cent) considered non-formal training as not
necessary; (3) a great majority favoured formal training, with 51.1 per
cent saying that formal training was very necessary and 13.8 per cent
extraordinarily necessary. However percentages were found with regard
to non-formal training, 41.5 per cent considered it very necessary and
11.9 per cent extraordinarily necessary (For details, see Tables 3.32 to
3.341.

60
71
 From college to the world of work

Table 3.1: Age profile of employed graduates

Age Bracket Male Female 1 otal

N % N % N %

20 - 23 144 40.8 281 53.7 425 48.5

24 - 27 162 45.9 211 40.3 373 42.6

28 - 31 38 10.8 25 4.6 62 7.1

5 1.4 2 .4 7 .8
32 - 35

36 and over 4 1.1 5 1.0 9 1.0

Total 353 100 523 100 876 99.9

Table 3.2: Civil staais of the employed grad. tes

Male Female Total

N % N % N %

Single 292 82.5 453 85.5 745 84.3

Married 62 17.5 76 14.3 138 15.6

Widowed 0 0

2 1 .1
Legally Separated 1

Total 354 100 530 100 884 100

61

72
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 3.3: Sex of the employed graduates

N % Sample

Male 354 40.) 41.0

Female 530 60.0 59.0

Total 884 100 100

Table 3.4: Monthly income of the spouse of the employed graduates

Total Male Female

Salary Bracket N % N % N %

Less than P.500 6 9.9 4 11.4 2 3.6

P.500 - 999 30 33.0 14 40.00 16 28.6

P.1 000 - 1 499 19 20.9 9 25.7 10 17.9

P.1 500 - 1 999 15 16 5 4 11.4 11 19.6

P.2 000 - 2 999 0 f;.9 2 -) 5.7 7 12.5

P.3 000 and above 12 13 1 2 5,7 10 17.9

Total 91 100 35 100 56 100

Mean Income = P.1 771.39

I .. 73
62
 From college to the world of work

Table 3.5: Educational attainment of the parents

Employed Unemployed Dropouts Prolonged

Studies

Father
% % %
--- - %

17.8 22.7 27.8 22.2

a. Elementary

23.5 26.3 37.0 22.2

b. High School
58.7 51.0 35.2 55.6
c. College

Mother
25.2 31.1 44.2 29.7
a. Elementary
29.5 32.7 34.6 27.0
b. High School
45.3 36.2 21.2 43.2
c. College

74 63
 Employment and career opportunities after paduation

Table 3.6: Educational attainment of he parents of employed

graduates

athei Mother
N % N
1. Agriculture 9 3.1 3 1.2

2. Business Administration
and Commerce 65 2/.2 28 11.4

3. Engineering and ", echnology 69 23.5 2 ... .8

4. Law and Foreign Service 79 27.0 4 1.6

5. Physical and Biological

Sciences 2 .7 3 1.2

6. Social Sciences 5 1.7 6 2.4

7. Medical Sciences 31 10.6 42 17.1

8. Music and Fine Arts 6 2.0 2 .8

9. Teacher Education 17 2.0 146 59

10. Other Liberal Arts Courses 10 3.4 7 2.9
11. Nutrition 2 8

Total 293 100 245 99.9

64
75
 From college to the world of work

Table 3.7: Occupation of the parents of the employed graduates

Fat her Mother

N % N %

1. Professional. Technical
and Related Workers 178 27.6 154 18.8

2. Administrative, Executive
and Managerial Workers 106 16.4 34 4.2

3. a- --21 and Related

W . . 49 7.6 21 2.6

4. Sales Workers 78 12.1 73 8.9

5. Service Workers 27 4.2 7 .9

6. Agricultural Workers 91 14 1 14 1.7

7. Production. Transporta-
tion and Related
Workers 75 11.6 27 3.3

8. Armed Forces 21 3.3

9. Non-Working Husband 1 ..i

10. Housewife 478 58.5

11. Unclassified 20 3.1 9 1.1

TGtal 646 100 817 100

76 65
g
Table 3.8. Father's occupation by type of college (in percentages)

Government
U.P. Colleges Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundation

1 Professional.
I echnical and
Related Workers 45.8 11.3 24.5 26.5 20.2 12.0

2. Administrative.
Executive and
Managerial and
Related Workers 24.2 8.5 21.3 11.8 12.3 80

I Clerical and
Related Workers 32 14.1 64 ,Q 10.3 12.0

4. Sales and Related

Workers 9.5 5.6 21.3 8.8 13.2 12.0

5. Service Workers 2.1 9.9 14.7 49

6. Agricultural and
Related Workers 6.8 19.7 9.6 26.5 14.8 44.0

7. Production. Trans-
portation and
Related Workers 4.7 22.5 96 88 15.6 8.0

8. Armed Forces 1.6 2.8 2.1 5.3 4.0

9. Uncla,silied 2.1 4.2 53 3.3

eil p7-
i
 From college to the world of worl,

1.

2.

3.
employed graduates

Agriculture

Mining and Quarrying

Manufacturing
_N
98

1
Father

16.9
%

.2

8.6
-
Table 3.9: Industrial classification of the employer of the parents of

18

27
Mother

2.5

3.7

4. Electricity. Gas and Water 18 3.1 1 .1

5. Construc:ion 26 4.5 2 .3

6. Wholesale and Retail 64 11.0 52 7.2

7. Transportation, Storage
and Communication 55 9.5 2 .3

8. Finance, Insurance, Real

Estate and Business
Services 57 9.8 20 2.8

9. Community, Social and

k ersonal Services 202 34.8 600 82.9

10. Unclassified 9 1.6 2 .3

Total 580 100 724 100

7b 67
cr.
00
Table 3.10: Father's incb.strial classification by type e college (in percentages)
Government
U.P Colleges Catholic Protestant Proprietar} Foundation

1 Agriculture 10.6 25 8 10.2 34 4 17.6 33 3

2. Mining and Ouarrying .6

3 Manufacturing 8.8 1.6 11 4 63 10 i 5.6

4. Electricity. Gas and

Water 3.1 16 4.5 6.3 2.6

5. Construction 6.9 4.8 2.3 31 4.0 56

6. Wholecale and
Retail 44 6.5 22.7 31 13' 5.6

7. Transportation.
Storage and
Communication 8.1 21 0 5.7 3.1 10.1 5.6

8 Financing and
Business 13 8 3.2 14 8 9.4 66 16.7

9. Community Services 41.9 35.5 27.3 31 3 33.5 27.8

10, Undefined 1.9 1.i 3.1 1.8 -

1
 From college to the world of work

Income Bracket

Less than P.500

500 - 499

1.000 - 1 499
--
Table 3.11: Monthly income of the parents of employed graduates

Father
N

49

142

87
%

8.8

25.5

15.6
Mother

37

111

49
0,
/0

12.5

37.4

16.5

1.500 - 1 999 52 9.4 22 7.4

2.000 - 2 999 66 11.9 34 1L4

3,000 and above 160 28.8 44 14.8

Total 556 100 297 100

Mean P.3 187.77 P.1 876.76

69
60
V
O
Table 3.12: Income distribution of the father of employed graduates (in percentages)

Monthly Other
Income U.P Government Catholic Protestants Proprietary Foundation
Bracket Collcges

Less than P.500 5.1 22.4 7.4 20 0 3.9 33.3

500 - 999 12 2 46.3 19.8 32.0 30.5 23.8

1 000 - 1 499 14.7 11.9 14.8 20 3 18 0 9.5

! 500 - 1 999 77 10.4 7.4 12.0 11.2 4.8

2 000 - 2 994 12.8 45 13.6 8.0 13.6 9.5

3 000 and above 47.4 4.5 37.0 8.0 22.8 19 0

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100

cu 1
 Table 3.13: Income distribution of the mothers of employed graduates (in percentages)

Monthly Other
lncnme U.P. Government Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundation
Bracket Colleges

5.6 35.5 5.1 30 8 13.4 11.1

Less than P.50()

51.6 28.2 53.8 38 1 66.7

P.500 - P 999 31.5

P.1 000 - P.1 499 16 7 12.9 17.9 7.7 19.6

128 7.2 11.1

7%1 500 - P.1 999 83

1a8 15.4 11.3 111

P 2 000 - P.2 999

P.3 000 and above 23 1 20.5 77 10 3

100 100 100 100 100 100

Total

le.
...)
.... 82
 Table 3.14: NCEE percentile score ^:f employed graduates by type of college

NCE.i. Other
Percentile 1.;.P Government Catholic Protestant Props tetary Foundation
Group.ng Colleges

1 21 - 30 1.1 4

31 - 40 1.1 1.3

3 31 - 50 5.6 13

4 51 - 60 5.6 26

5 61 -70 78 6.5 32 123

6. 71 -80 56 9; 65 154 54

7. 81 - 90 .4 3.3 23 1 26 3 2.7

8. 9! - 99 99.6 70 61.1 90.3 40.4 91 9

.I 1
83
 From college to the world of work

Table 3.15 Type of college of employed graduates and their type Ji

high school (in percentages)

I ype of High School

1 ypolop of Private
College of Public Private Non-
Employed Graduate. School Sectarian Sectarian

UP 375 563 63

Government College 60.5 25.6 14.0

Catholic 15.0 64,5 20.6

Protestant 2511 501N1 25.0

Proprietary 36.8 :+3.2 30 On

Foundatio, 80.0 :0.00

Table 3.16: College typology of graduates by sex

Male Female Total S

'V % N % N %

1. Public Sector

1.1 U P. 122 34.4 141 26 6 263 29.7 26.2

1.2 Other State

7.6 69 13.0 96 108 9.4
Colleges 27

Proate Education
Sector

2.1 Catholic 42 11.8 88 16,, 130 14.7 16.1

Protestant 17 4.8 25 4.7 42 4.7 5..

2.2

Proprietary 127 35.8 191 36.0 318 35.9 39.7

2.3

30 36 41 3.4
24 Foundation 20 5.6 16

Total 355 101) 531) 99.9 885 99.9

3.

84 73
 Tabh 3.17: Degree programme of employed graduates by type of college (in percentages)

Other
U.P. Government Cathelic Protestant Proprietary Foundation
Colleges

I. Agr... -Iture 5.3 11.8 8 4.8 .3 97.3

2. Business Administration
and Commerce 10 9 5.9 22.0 21.4 36

3. Engineering and
Technology 16.9 8.8 13.6 14.3 18.2

4 Food. Nutrition
and Dietetcis 5.3 2.0 4.5 .9 2.7

5. Law and Foreign

Service 9.0 -3.8 7.1 2.2

6. Physical and
Biological Science 60 53 24 .6

7. Social Science 18.8 9.1 26.2 7.2

8. Medical Science 18.4 17.4 11.9 23.6

9. Music and Fine Arts 2.6 5.3 1.6

10. Tercher Education 38 71.6 9.8 9.5 5.7

11. Other Liberal Arts

Courses 3.0 8.3 2.3 2.8

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100

,
b
 Front college :o the world of wort,

Table 3.18: Degree programme of graduates

lotal Male 1-emale

N % N % N %

1. Agriculture 65 7.4 34 9.6 31 5.8

2. Business Adminis-
tradition and
Commerce 8 21.1 54 15.3 132 24.9

3. Enginee,:r.i, and
Technology 136 15.4 122 34.6 14 2.6

4. Nutrition 26 2.9 3 .8 23 4.3

5. Law and Foreign

Service 38 4.3 17 4.8 21 4.0

6. Physical and
Biological
Sciences 26 2.9 13 3.7 13 75

7. Social Sciences 96 10.9 33 9.3 63 11.9

8. Medical Sciences 151 17.1 42 11.9 109 20.6

9. Music and Fine Arts 19 2.2 8 2.3 11 2.1

10. Teacher Education 112 12.7 17 4.8 95 17.9

11. Other Liberal

Arts Courses 28 3.1 10 2.8 8 3.3

1 uta' 883 100 353 99.9 530 99.9

86 75
 Table 3.19: Factors affecting course by type of college (by rank)

Other
U.P. State Catholic 'rotestant Proprietary Foundation Total
Colleges

1. Employment
Prospect 1.93 1.81 2.0 2.13 1.83 1.20 1.87

2. Wider Choice of
Career 2.06 2.05 2.05 1.92 1.91 2.1: 2.00

3. Social Prestige 3.43 2.76 2.91 2.67 2.96 3.26 3.07

4. Friend's
Influence 4.27
' 4.49
4.23 4.61 4.39 5.54 4.39

5. Family's
Influence 3.51 3.14 3.74 3.82 3.80 3.84 3.66

Rank 1 is the highest and 5 the lowest

8'7
 .""-.. .1=1i

Table 3.20 Reasons for not pursuing prefer:ecl course by typt of colltge (by rank)

Other
e.P. State Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundat;Jn Total
Colleges

I. Financial
-I -I
Problemc 2.81 1.94 1.5 2.17 1.8 2.15

2 Parental
Influence 2.14 1.41 2.24 1.0 1 98 3.25 1.90

3. Poor grades 2.56 3.24 3.14 3.0 J.39 4 25 3.10

2.10 2.80 2.50 3.0 2.47 2.75 2.42

4. Change of Mind

Rank 1 is the highest and 5 the lowest

.4
.4
88
-4
00

Table 3.21: Means of obtaining a job by type of college (in percentages)

Typol6gy of Collegc

Means of Other
obtaining U.P. State Catholic Protestant Prol rietar% foundation
a Joh Colleges

I. Company Personnel
Office 1 3 1 2 3

2. Recommendation from
family, relatives
and friends 2 6 2 4 1

3. Recommendation from
Teachers 3 4 3 1 3 I

4. School Placement
Office 4 2 5 3 5 5

5. Media Advertising 5 5 4 5 4 6

6 Government Placement
Office 6 1 6 6 6 4

Rank = highcst. Rank 6 = lowect

i0 £9
 From college to the world of wori,

Table 3.22: Waiting period

After finishing After actively

t" t course looking for work

N % C.P. N % C.P.

Lev, than 1 month 102 13.4 13.5 277 40.6 40.6

I - 2 months 197 26.1 39.6 218 32 72.6

3 - 4 months 142 18.8 58.3 80 11.7 84.3

5 - 6 months 93 12.3 70.6 57 8.4 92.7

7 - 12 months 155 20.5 91.1 40 5.9 98.5

1 - 2 years 59 7.8 98.9 5 0.7 99.3

More than 2 years 6 0.8 99.7 1 0.1 9!

C.P. = Cumulative Percentage

99 0 79
 -_
Employment and career opponunities after graduation

Table 3.23: Waiting pericrl after actively looking for work b type of
colleges

U P. Catholic

N % C.P N % CP

Less tnan 1 month 113 34 6 54.6 4U 39.2 39

1 - 2 months 6- 30.9 85.5 34 33.3 72.5

4 months 14 68 92.3 16 15.7 88 2

5 - 6 months 14 6.8 99 1 7 6.9 95.1

7 - 12 months 2 9 10011 6 4.9 10000

1 - 2 years 0

Protestant Proprietary

N % C.P. N % C.P.

Less ;tom 1 month 10 29.4 29.4 66 28.2 26.2

1 - 2 months 7 206 500 88 37.6 65.8

7 20.5 70.6 33 14.1 79.9

3 - 4 months

5 - 6 months 4 11.E 82 4 25 10.7 40.6

7- 12 month, 5 14.7 97.1 19 8.: 98.7

1 - 2 months 1 2.9 100 0

Other State Colleges. Arts

and Trades & Govt. Colleges

S ok CP

1,ess than 1 month 32 46T8 46.38

1 - 2 mon, hs 20 26 96 75.36

3 - 4 months 6 8.7 84.06

5 - 6 months 4 .:,.8 L .86

7 10 14 100 (1
7 - 12 months

C.P = Cumulative Percentage

ii,
91
 Table 3.24: Variables in the regression model on factors affecting waiting period (All employed graduates)

B BETA T
variables

-1.465451 -.24897 7.488

LP
1.58IVNI .11949 4.762
Protectant
3.847876 17371 1 802
Academic Self-As,essment Below Average
.4301289 .07479 312:
Sex: Female
2.548234 .44854 881
Academic Self-Assessmer t Average

- .8039672 0999:: 1.874

Catholic
-.8380150 - 09235 1.850
Other Government
-.5420108 - 09015 .966
Proprietary
-.8191727E-02 -.93793 .648
NCEE Score
.0321575 "c386 .748
0-e Year After Graduat'un
2.286510 _9522 .706
Academic Self-Assessment: Above Average
1.940446 .09667 .470
Academic SelAssessment: Excellent
.1328208 .02344 .142
Two Years Met. Graduation
-.2681713E-05 -.00910 .048
PARING

(Constant) 1.906492

F = 3.65588 DF = 14 544 R2 = 0.08599

92
 Table 3.25: Variables in the regression model on factors affecting waiting period (All female g eduates)

Variables B BETA F

Protestant 4.69258 .35519 20.959

U.P 4796782 0868 .327

Proprietary 1.459914 .24977 3.026

Academic Self-Assessment: Below Average 4.675184 .12772 2.010

NCEE Score -.8067619E-02 -.03881 .434

One Year After Graduation .2063721 .03696 .502

Other Government Colleges 1.141585 .14227 1.734

Catholic 1.009071 .13103 1.338

Academic SW-Assessment: Average 2.562931 .45311 .923

Academic Self-Assessmnent: Above Average 2.432113 .42454 .826

Academic Self-Assessment: Excellent 2.137962 .10058 .554

PARING -.3374209E-05 -.013:4 .066

(Constant) 2.079101

F = 3.73848 DF = 12 335 R2 = 0.1181

 From college to the world of work

Table 3.26: Assessment of college performance

Total Male Female

N % N % N %

Below Average (75-79) 16 1.8 13 3.7 3 .6

Average (80-85) 556 63.0 227 63.9 329 62.4

Above Average (86-94) 294 33.3 109 30.7 185 35.1

Excellent (95 and above) 16 1.8 6 1.7 10 1.9

Total 882 99.9 355 100 527 100

94 83
r
Table 3.27: Assessment of college performance by type of college (in percentages)

i
U.P. Other State Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundation Total
Colle;es

1. Below Average
3.7 10 5.4 5".
(75-79) 1.0 1.8 sv.
4
2. Average
(80-85) 44 6 74.5 65.4 66.6 71.4 78.4 63.0
i
1..
3. Above Average e)
(86-94) 49.4 23.5 33.1 31.0 26.0 13.5 33.3
fl
e%
4. Excellent 1
(95 and above) 2.3 1.0 1.5 2.4 16 1.7 1.8 0
.,111

Iota! 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ;

a*

i
 Table 3.28: Assessmt it of content of instruction by type of college (in percentages)

UP Other State Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundation Total

Colleges

2.0 3.0 0.0 1.3 5.4 20

I. Inadequate 23

45 3.0 3.0 4,8 6.3 5 4 4.9

2. Barely Adequate

Adequate 32.0 47,5 45.1 61 9 57 0 St 4 47 2

3.

Very Adequate 44.7 39.6 35.3 31.0 30.4 32 4 36

4,

79 13 5 2.4 51 54 98
5. Excellent 16 5

100 100 100 100 100 100

Total 100

00
t.11
96
 Table 3.29: Assessment of method of instruction by type of college (in percentages)

I. Inadequate
U.P.

*--
26
Other State
Colleges

4.9
Catholic

4.5
Protestant

0.0
48
Proprietary

2.5
Foundation

2.7

2.7
-
Total

3.1

5.9
2. -I' Adequate 4.5 2.0 4.5 92

3. Adequate 39.5 38.2 48.9 52.4 55.9 59.5 48.1

4. Very Adequate 40.6 44.1 29.3 40.5 27.9 27.0 34.2

5. Excellent 12 8 10.8 12 8 2.4 4.4 Si 8.7

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100

 Table 3.31: Usefulness of educational qualifications and training to present job by type of college (in percentages)

UP Other Gov't Catholic Protectaat Proprietary Fondal'on

Colleges
......_
10 3.1 3.5 2.7
1. Not Necessary 2.6

38 3.0 7.6 35 2.'

2. Rarely Necessary
24.8 25.2 21.4 223 14.3
3. Necessary 196

60.4 48.9 73.8 59.3 59 5

4. Very Necessary 55 8

5. Extraordinarily I I -I 10 8
181 10.9 15.3 4.8
Necessary

100 100 100 100

Total 100 100

98
CO
.4
 4:113P.10,vment and ,career opportunities. after graduation

Table 3.30: Usefulness of educational qualifications to present job in

(percentages)

Total Male Female

Not Necessary 2.6 3.1 2.3

Barely necessary 4.0 3.7 3.2

Necessary 22.3 22.8 22.1

Very necessary 57.3 55.1 58.7

Extraordinarily necessary 13.8 15.3 12.7

Total 100 100 100

Table 3.32: Usefulness of formal (raining to present job

_N %
......
Not necessary 36 4.0

Barely necessary 46 5.1

Necessary 233 26.0

Very necessary 458 51.1

Extraordinarily necessary 124 13.8

Total 897 100.0

88
99
 From college to the world of work

Table 3.33: Usefulness of vocational/technical/craft/in-service training

to present job
N

41
_
%

13.2
Not necessary

Barely necessary 33 10.6

Necessary 71 22.8

Very necessary 129 41.5

Extraordinarily necessary 37 11.4

Total 311 100.0

Table 3.34: Comparative usefulness of formal and vocational/

technical/craft/in service training
N
_%
Formal training more useful 142 44.8

Vocational/technical/craft/
in-service training more useful 40 14.6

Formal training equally useful as

vocational/technical/craftlin-service
training 116 36.6

Cannot say 19 6.0

Total 317 100.0

100 89
4. The world of work and the
education-occupation adjustment

4.1 Introduction
One external efficiency indicator of quality of educational programmes
is the readiness of business and industry as well as the other sectors of
the economy to employ graduates. Appreciation of education is also
concretized by the willingness of employers to pay higher wages to the
more qualified and those with a higher level of education. Of course,
there are possible distortions in the labour market, and times when the
wage rate is not wholly reflective of the true value of qualifications.
Also, the unwillingness of the productive sector to hire highly skilled
professionals can be attributed to a level of development where highly
skilled professionals are not yet in demand. The response of the profes-
sionals to this kind of situation is to look for a job in the international
labour market. The brain drain resulting from the exodus of profes-
sionals from many developing countries to developed countries is a
good example of this phenomenon.
With the foregoing premise and qualifying statements, an attempt
maybe made to evaluate how the graduates of higher education in the
Philippine situation are faring in the world of work and how flexible
their educational attainments are in meeting the demands of various
occupations. In more specific terms, this Chapter delves into the
following aspects:

90 101
 The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment

(a) the occupation of graduates

(b) industrial classification and type of firm of the employer of the

graduates

(c) income and an analysis of the predictors of income

(d) job satisfaction

(e) educational-occupational flexibilities

4.2 Occupations of the graduates

Studies on occupation in many countries have shown that there are
occupational changes from one generation tc another. Such changes are
shown by comparing the data on the occupa on of the parents and the
graduates of the HELMS 11 study with the data of HELMS 1. Change is
evidenced by the increasing proportion of parents and graduates in
professional and technical jobs and the decreasing proportion of
employed graduates occupying clerical positions.
In HELMS I, 17.11 per cent of the fathers and 11.26 per cent of
the mothers of the employed graduates were occupying professional and
technical positions. In HELMS II, the percentages have gone up: 27.2
per cent and 19.2 per cent for the fathers and the mothers, respectively.
The number of fathers in the agricultural sector has gone down from
32.50 per cent in HELMS 1 to 14.5 per cent in HELMS II.
Employed graduates occupying professional and technical occupa-
tions in HELMS I comprised 41.67 per cent of the total. In HELMS "I",
this proportion has gone up to 68.7 per cent. (For details, see Tante
4.1). There has been a marked decline of clerical workers from 37.04
per cent in HELMS 1 to 13.4 per cent in HELMS II. One should also
take note that the graduates in HELMS 11 are much younza than the
graduates in HELMS 1. In spite of this, 4.9 per cent are already occu-
pying administrative, executive and managerial positions. In HELMS 1,
a slightly higher percentage (5.95 per cent) of me graduates occupied
administrative, executive and managerial positions.
Occupation of graduates varies with the typology of college where
they took their degree as well as with sex. There are slightly more

102 91
 Employment and career opponunities after graduation

females (69.2 per cent) who occupy the r rofessional, technical and
related workers than males (65.3 per cent). On the other hand, there
are more males (7.6 per cent) in administrative, executive and mana-
gerial positions compared to females (3 per cent). The second predomi-
nant occupations of females are clerical and related workers' jobs (18.3
per cent). For males, it is only 7.6 per cent. Sales (7.6 per cent), agricul-
ture (4.5 per cent) and production, transportation and related workers
(4.2 per cent) are the other occupations of males where they outnumber
the females. (For details, see Table 4.1).
The variation of occupation by type of college is such that
University of Philippines has far more employed graduates occupying
administrative, executive and managerial positions (11.3 per cent)
compared to only 3.8 per cent for graduates of Catholic and 2.8 per
cent for proprietary colleges. Also, there are more graduates of Catholic
(14.4 per cent), Protestant (14.3 per cent) and Proprietary colleges (23.7
per cent) who are on a clerical level of occupation than for University
of Philippines (5.3 per cent). (For details, we Table 4.2). Except for
graduates of the foundation type of educational institutions, the
majority of the employed graduates are occupying professional, tech-
nical positions. Since in the sample, the graduates from the foundation
type of educational institutes are predominantly in agriculture, it is not
surprising that their graduates are engaged in an agricultural occupa-
tion.
In many developed countries, there has been a high correspon-
dence between professional, technical workers and administrative, exec-
utive and managerial groups. In other words, the number of
professional technical workers is evenly matched with a good number
of administrative, executive and managerial workers. In many instances,
it is a 1:1 ratio.' However, in the Philippine situation as borne out in
both the HELMS 1 and HELMS II data, the numbers of professional
technical workers are outrageously high in relation to the number of
administrative, executive and managerial workers. There has been no
empirical data to explain this phenomenon, but one could offer the
following explanations:

7
Paint raised by Dr. Richard Pearson of the City University of Neu Yon(
during the HELMS 11 Workshop.,

92 /0 3
 The world of work and she education-occupation adjustment

(a) It takes a shorter period in the Philippines than in many western

countries to acquire the credentials required in professional and
technical occupations. In the Philippines. it takes only fourteen
years (14) to finish a collegiate degree compared to at least sixteen
(16) years in Western countries.

(b) There are probably more barriers to entry into administrative,

executive and managerial occupations in many developing societies
like the Philippines than in Western countries where meritocracy is
closely adhered to. It is not uncommon for a worker to be
subjected to a long trial period before he is awarded a title in an
administrative, executive and managerial position. In some closely
held family corporations or business enterprises, the administrative,
executive and managerial positions are reserved for the members of
the family. Some may even venture to marry a member of the
ruling family, thus belonging to the extended family, with the hope
of assisting their climb to the privileged class in the administrative,
executive and managerial positions.

Comparing the occupations of fathers and that of the emplciyed

paduates, a change in occupations from one generation to another
maybe clearly noted. Only 45.4 per cent of the fathers of University of
Philippines graduates are in professional technical and related workers'
jobs, while 73.7 per cent of working graduates are employed in this
occupational category. This is true of the children of those coming from
other state colleges, where there are 84 per cent holding professional
and technical jobs, but only 11.3 per cent of the fathers are in this occu-
pational classification. Graduates of Catholic co! eges have 24.5 per cent
of their fathers occupying professional and technical positions, while 72
per cent of them are in the same occupation. Among the graduates of
proprietary colleges, there are 60.6 per cent occupying professional and
technical jobs, but only 20.2 per cent of the fathers are in the same
occupation. The same phenomenon holds true of graduates of
Protestant and foundation type of institutions. (For details, see Table
4.2).
There are fewer employed graduates engaged in agricultural work.
While 19.7 per cent of the fathers of employed graduates from other
state colleges and universities art_ in agriculture, only 5 per cent of the
employed graduates are included in this occupational category. Among

93
104
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

the fathers of graduates from Protestant and proprietary colleges 26.5

per cent and 14.8 per cent respectively are engaged in agricultural work.
On the other hand, among the employed graduates of Protestant and
proprietary colleges, only 4.8 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively are
employed as agricultural workers. It was only in the foundation type of
institution that agriculture was tnaintainti as the means of livelihood
from one generation to another, with 44 per cent of the fathers and
48.6 per cent of the employed graduates engaged as agricultural
workers. However, this wac just a logical outcome of the sample used.
Employed graduates could not match the executive, administrative
and managerial positions of their lathe's'. A much higher percentage
of the fathers are employed in executive, administrative and managerial
positions. This is understandable, for the employed graduates are young,
with a mean age of 24.15.

4.3 Industrial classification and type of firm

As in HELMS I, the predominant employer is the community.social and
personal services: 47.8 per cent in HELMS I and 48.2 per cent HELMS
11. (For details, see Table 4.3). A substantial upward shift has been
noted in the finance, insurance, real estate and business services from
6.2 per cent in HELMS I to 18.22 per cent in HELMS 11, manufac-
turing from 13.1 per cent to 15 per cent and agriculture from 3.5 per
cent to 6.0 per cent. Mining quarrying, on the other hand, has declined
from 12.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent. This could possibly be attributed to
the difficult state of the mining industry which prevents the industry
from hiring new employees. In fact, the mining industry is contracting
its operations in viev, of the poor price of metals, especially copper.
For both the employed graduates and their fathers. community
services as a sector of employment is still predominant. What is losing
attractiveness in terms of employment is the agriculture sector. Except
for graduates of foundation type of educational institutions whose
sample is mainly agriculture graduates, the agriculture sector accounts
for only 0.8 per cent of employed graduates from Catholic schools to as
high as 8.9 per cent of University of Philippines. Agriculture as a sector
of employment of the employed graduates' parents is in the range of
10.22 per cent for Catholic colleges to as high as 25.8 per cent of the
other state colleges and universities. On the other hand, finance, real

94 105
 The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment

estate, insurance and business services is beginning to be an attractive

sector of employment. The fathers of the employed graduates from
Catholic colleges in finance, real estate, insurance and business services
account for 14.8 per cent compared to 28.9 per cent of the graduates.
Only 6.6 per cent of the fathers of employed graduates from proprie-
tary colleges are in finance, real estate, insurance and business services
whereas 19.7 per cent of their children are employed in this sector.
(See Table 4.4).
The private sector is the prime employer of graduates. Of the
total, 60.7 per cent are in the private sector, with the bulk in a corpo-
rate type of organization (43.1 per cent), single proprietorship (9.8 per
cent) and partnership (7.8 per cent). In HELMS I, 33.2 per cent were
employed in the public sector. In HELM II, 39.3 per cent are in the
public sector, spread across the national government (24.5 per cent),
local government (6.6 per cent), government corporations (6.2 per cent)
and provincial government (2 per cent). Aspiraticas for public sector
employment among HELMS I students represent 44.8 per cent of the
total. (For details, see Table 4.5.

4.4 Income of employed graduates

Income is generally considered by society as an indicator of success.
Thus, in the field of economics of eaucation, income is often used as a
gauge in evaluating the contribution of ,....lucation to development and
society. With this consideration in mind, how did the graduates of
1978-1979 fare? The HELMS II survey showed that the average gross
monthly income of graduates amounted to P.1,096.67 in 1981 as against
the average income of employed graduates in the HELMS I survey of
P.715.12. Over time, income has been increasing. Employed graduates
in HELMS II were earning P.795.32 in 1979, P.939.94 in 1980, and
P.1.,096.67 in 1981. Employed graduates who were working student;
earned an average of P.472.15 in 1976, P.540.15 in 1977 and P.746.58 in
1978. The average income of working students in 1978 was P.746.558
compared to P.715.12 of the graduates ;n HELMS I. Between 1976 and
1977, the rate of increase was 14.4 per cent. In 1978, it went up by
38.13 per cent, when the working students were in their fourth year.
Income increased only by 6.56 per cent in 1979 but suddenly, a year
after graduation, i.e. in 1980, the average income of employed graduates

106 95
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

with working experience while studying zoomed upwards by 48.96 per

cent.
Real increase in income, however, was just a little above the infla-
tion rate, i.e. it was equivalent to only 2.28 per cent a year. If official
inflation rates were lower than fin actual rates, then increase in real
terms of graduates' income is possibly nil or even negative.
In spite of the increase, income has not been sufficient. Many are
still looking for additional jobs even when their total working hours per
week are already in excess of the 40-hour/week work load. On the
average, the 'otal working hours of the employed graduates was 42.49
hours. For those who were successful in obtaining a second job, the pay
was P.789.79, which is almost as much as for their main job. A very
small group of 8 was even successful in getting a third job for an addi-
tional P.706.25 a month in wages.

4.4.1 Income by occupation and type of college

The occupation that gives the highest income is the administrative,

executive and managerial position with a monthly income of P.1,941.15
which is higher than the average pay of the corresponding occupation in
HELMS I of only P.1,580.89. Graduates of University of Philippines
who are occupying administrative, executive and managerial positions
have, by far, the higher income at P.2,312.08 per month. This was
followed by, again, graduates of University of Philippines, engaged in
sales at P.1,802.00 and graduates occupying professional, technical posi-
tions at P.1,507.08. The graduates of University of Philippines exhibit a
distinct advantage in terms of higher income in all occupations,
compared with the graduates of all other colleges occupying the same
positions. One may infer the folloving from the foregoing data;

(a) The graduates of University of Philippines are considered of high

quality, and their high pay reflects their market values.

(b) University of Philippines inculcates a strong motivation to obtain a

position with high pay. Such motivation may not be as pronounced
in other colleges. ,,

96 107
 The world of wor4 and the education - occupation adjustment

(c) The low income profile of the parents of graduates of all other
colleges may be indicative of a lower social class compared to
University of Philippines graduates, note the average income of
graduates of Protestant and other state colleges which are the
lowest. These groups probaNy attach a greater value to service
rather than ,o monetary rewards. Invariably, they do not have
much access to labour market information, especially the high
paying occupations in many prestigios corporations. Results of
regression analysis show that father's income and administrative,
executive occupation are highly correlated with income.

As stated earlier, the jobs that give the highest income are those in
the administrative, executive .-nd managerials category. This is followed
by sales workers (P.1,179.31), production, transportation and related
workers (P.1,".45.56), professional, technical and related workers
(P.1,098.41), clerical workers (P.902.95) and service workers (P.901.00)
The occupation that pays the least is agriculture (P.696.87). However,
there is some variation of pay across typology of schools as shown in
Table 4.6.
Male employed graduates have an income advantage over females.
In HELMS 1, a male with a bachelor's degree had a 36.7 per cent
income advantage over females. In HELMS II, the male income advan-
tage among the professional, technical and related workers was 24.43
per cent, for clerical 13.78 per cent, Kies 23.77 per cent, agricultural
workers 1.78 per cent, and the unclassified occupation 54.85 per cent.
On the other hand, there are occupations where females have an
income advantage over males, i.e. in service (33.18 per cent), produc-
tion, transportation and related workers (25.58 per cent) and adminis-
trative, executive and managerial workers (3.38 per cent). (See Table
4.7),
Comparing the HELMS II (1981) data with the previous findings
in HELMS I (1978), a substantial improvement maybe noted for those
in service positions from P.355.17 a month in 1978 to P.901 in HELMS
II in 1981. The clerical workers also exhibited a substantial improve-
ment from P.476.33 in HELMS I to P.902.95 in HELMS II. The same is
true with sales workers from P.658.49 in 1978 to P.1,179.34 in 1981.
Agriculture remained among the lowest-paid occupation. In HELMS I,
tb.i- average Fay was P.629.05, a , did not increase much in HELMS 11
at only P.696.87.

108
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

4.4.2 Income classified by academic programme

Just as income varies by occupation and type of college, it also varies

with academic programmes. The collegiate degree that offers the highest
pay is law and foreign service with an average monthly pay of
P.1,861.24. This is followed by engineering and technology (P.1,373.15),
music and fine arts (P.1,220.50), social science (P.1,225.03), etc. (For
details, see Table 4.8). Ar.. '-:e lowest paid academic programmes
are teacher education (P.7.' ,q, agriculture (P.884.49) and medicine
P.928.61.
The pay of medical graduates is understandably minimal, for they
are just in the early period where the starting pay is generally low.
However, apart from in-residence pay, there ay_ also other forms of
income in '.ind such as free board and lodging and other benefits.
Moreover, when they have completed their residence period and gained
substantial experience in medical practice, their salary increases signifi-
amtly.
Even within a curricular programme, variations still occur by type
of college. Again, graduates from University of Philippines may expect
better pay in all fields of specialization except in agriculture where they
get a slightly lower pay of P.971.64 compared to the P.1,000 earned by
graduates of Catholic colleges. Take the case of engineering: the gradu-
ates from University of Philippines receive P.1,933.91 compared to
graduates of Prrtestant colleges receiving P.1,174.17; Proprietary
P.1,171.02; Catholic P.1,049.12; and the lowest salary of them allthe
engineering graduates from other state colleges and universities with
only P.616.67. (For details of all other fields of specialization, see Table
4.8).
Male income advantage over females holds true for most degree
programmes. Programmes where there has been a high male income
advantage are physical and biological sciences (31.73 per cent), music
and fine arts (31.5 per cent), humanities (28.09 per cent), education
(25.44 per cent), and engineerin3 and technology (20.16 per cent). The
degree programme where there is the least income advantage among
males is business administration (14.3 per cent). (For details. see Table
4.9). Female income advantage is highly pronounced in traditional
female curricular programmes, i.e. food, nutrition and dietetics (43.78
per cent). Surprisingly, in a profession that has traditionally been the
domain of males, i.e. law and foreign service, females have an income

98
109
 The world of work and the edvcatton-occupation adjustment

advantage (17.19 per cent). The other programmes where females have
an advantage is liberal arts (8.31 per cent).
From the foregoing analysis, one may notice the low pay of curric-
ula' programmes that are of high social value, such as agriculture and
teacher education. The pay of teachers is not commensurate to their
social contribution in producing a literate society and the highly skilled
manpower to accelerate industrial and social development. And as
regards agricultural development, how can the country encourage
students to pursue agriculture when the financial incentive is not that
attractive? This is an instance where the labour market does not
provide the desirable financial incentives; thus, the government should
envisage some bold measures to encourage the development of
manpower required for national development.

4.4.3 Income by industrial classification

The economic sectors paying the highest income are still financing,
insurance, real estate and business services at F.1,359.30. In HELMS I,
the situation also was similar. Mining, quarrying and construction
industries outranked manufacturing which used to be second to
financing, insurance, real estate and business services. The economic
sectors that offer the lowest pay are community service (P.923.44) and
agriculture (P.945.78).
Male income advantage was prevalent in all fields, with the
construction industry exhibiting the highest ;ncome advantage at 42.55
per cent followed by finance, insurance, real estate and business services
(27.94), agriculture 21.25 per cent, community services (19.59 per cent)
etc. The economic sector with the leas' male income advantage over
females was transportation, storage am. communication 5.6 per cent.
(For details, see Table 4.101.
University of Philippines graduates stand out as receiving high pay
in mining and quarrying where the graduates of Protestant colleges with
a monthly pay of P.1,675 outranked the graduates of University of
Pnilippines with an average monthly pay of P.1.203.67. The perform-
ance of University of Philippines graduates in terms of pay according to
economic sectors is different from the graduates of all other colleges.
For example, University of Philippines graduates get good pay in whole-
sale wholesale and retail and construction; on the other hand, the grad-

110 99
 Employmen and career opportunities after graduation

uates of other state colleges and universities get better pay in financing,
insurance, real estate and business services. The economic sector where
the graduates of proprietary colleges get the highest pay is in electricity,
gas and water; for foundation colleges, it is community service;
Protestant, mining and quarrying; Catholic colleges transportation,
storage and communication. (For details, see Table 4.11).
The economic sectors that were able to cope, in real terms,with
inflation are the electricity, gas and water sector with 6.98 per cent
annual real improvement in salary of employees; construction 4.29 per
cent, wholesale and retail 2.91 per cent, manufacturing 2.42 per cent,
agriculture 2.36 per cent, and storage and communication 0.95 per cent.
On the other hand, the economic sectors where the employed grad-
uate's salary has not been on par with inflation is community service
which has experienced a 2.46 per cent annual real decline in salary;
finance, real estate and business services 0.57 per cent; and mining busi-
ness services 0.57 per cent; and mining and quarrying 0.11 per cent. It
is possible that the graduates employed in mining and quarrying and
financing, insurance, real estate and business services are responding
more to the high pay in money terms rather than the real increase in
income.

4.5 Regression analysis of salaries of graduates

4.5.1 The conceptual framework

Success in working life is determined partly but significantly by the

earnings of individuals. It is believed that education has a role to play in
determining earnings, but it has only a limited role. Socio-economic
background, type of institution attended, studies pursued, occupation
held by a graduate, and the economic sector in which one is employed
are other factors that determine earnings. Individuals from a low socio-
economic class are disadvantaged by exposure to inferior types of insti-
tutions, less costly and therefore less prestigious fields of studies. They
are also disadvantaged by the law of labour market information,
employment and career guidance, and the social contacts often neces-
sary in landing a good-paying job. Their bargaining power is limited. It
also sometimes happens that individuals from lower social strata
develop values and attitudes befitting jobs of less prestige through

100

1 in
 The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment

parental interaction and early family experiences. Lower occupational

levels of parents limit the amount of knowledge and other behavioural
requisites for success in higher-level jobs that they can pass on to their
children. Personality baits such as conformity, low achievement motiva-
tion and submission to authority that are common among lower-level
jobs are transmitted through family socialization by the children, thus
conditioning them to accept less challenging positions in the future. The
influence of socio-economic background and educational careers has
been widely studied."
The socio-economic background in our analysis is identifier' by
personal characteristics, such as age, sex and marital status; community
characteristics such as home region, father's occupation, income and
economic sector of work.
In addition to socio-economic background, the type of institution
attended also influences the earnings of a graduate. In the Philippines,
there is a distinct type of such institution, i.e. the University of the
Philippines, whose graduates enjoy more prestige in the labour market
than others. The field of study pursued by the graduate also influences
i is earnings as does the type of occupation and industrial sector where
he is employed.
It was also hypothesized that the method of recruitme-q of gradu-
ates may have some influence on salary. The reason is t'at those who
are employed through personal contacts might, in the Filipino situation,
have an advantage over those who have to go through formal channels
in getting a job acid negotiating a higher salary. The method of recruit-
ment also varies with the enterprise and the type of control exercised by
companieswhich have different salary structures and different types of
requirements for graduate manpower.
In addition, the experience the graduate obtains on the job is also a
determining factor for the current salary and tor the waiting period. For
the latter, it is hypothesized that those graduates wth. have a longer
waiting period are specialized in fields for which there is less demand in
the employment market. If the salary structure is dependent on the
demand and supply of graduates, the salary for those who have a longer
waiting period should be less.

8 See for example. T.Husen, Social background and educational career, Paris,
OECD. 1972.

112 101
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

The following sections discuss the model used for predicting the
salary of a graduate utilizing the above-mentioned explanatory variables.

4.5.2 The model

The earnings function is specified by the following equation:

m n p
E=a + r (hi xii + r Q2i x2i + .r Q3i x3i 4- u
i=1 i=1 1=1

E is the monthly salary (gross) in pesos (the dependent variable).

xii is a set of socio-economic variables, some of which are nominal

(namely, marital status, home region, sex, parent's occupation;
sector of course, etc.).

x2i is a set of educational variables of the graduate which also may

be cardinal (namely, length of studies ir years) as well as nominal
(field of study, type of institution e.g. University of Philippines
graduate or net, etc.).

x3i is a se' of occupational variables of the graduate which may also

be cardinal (e.g. years of experience, waiting period to get the job
etc.) or nominal (namely, type of occupation held, sector of
economy employed in, method of recruitment for the job etc.).

ii is the error terms.

4.5.3 The method of analysis

Regression analysis with cardinal explanatory variables poses no

problem. The regression coefficients give the predictability of the
dependent variable, i.e. the magnitude e' changes in the dependent
variable with unit change in the explanatory variables to which the
regression coefficient is associated.
The nominal variables, namely, marital status, sex, home region,
parent's occupation and industry, graduate occupation and industry,

102
( 113
 The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment

type of institution attended, field of studies (specialization), method of

recruitment pose problems for analysis. The 'Dummy variable' method
is used for treating these variables. For example, if sex is the explana-
tory variable, with two items namely, male and female, one of the items
is retained in the equation, (it can be arbitrarily chosen but normally
that which has more cases is retained to avoid a large number of zero's
as the value of the variable). In an analysis if a case's sex is male, the
variable has a value zero, if the sex is female, the variable has a value 1.
In case of a variable which has more than two items such as occupation,
one of the occupations is suppressed and each of the other occupations
is included in the equation as a separate variable. The SPSS package
gives details of the treatment of such variables."
The regression coefficient attached to each of the retained occupa-
tional items gives the rotative advantage for the graduate of that occupa-
tion in comparison with the occupation which is suppressed from the
equation. A significant value of F will imply a significant advantage (if
the regression coefficient is positive) or a significant disadvantage (if the
regression coefficient is negative). An insignificant value of F will imply
no difference between the occupation in the equation and the occupa-
tion suppressed, in so far as the sample is concerned.
In the analysis of the earning functions, there is also the problem
of multi-correlaniarity which distorts the value of the regression coeffi-
cient in predicting the variaticn in the variable to be .explained. The
problem is approached by having a correlation matrix y of all the vari-
ables in the explanatory side of the equation and noting those pairs
which are highly inter-related (a correlation co-efficient of 0.40 may be
regarded as the cut-off point) and explaining one of the two variables as
a 'proxy' for the other. If the 'proxy' is not relevant, then one of the
variables is dropped reducing the predictive capacity of the model.
We hive analyzed three earning functions: (1) for all the graduates;
(2) for the graduates of all the private institutions separately and (3) for
all the graduates of the University of the Philippines separately.
The reason for the three types of regression was that the graduates
of the private institutes and those of the University of the Philippines
have significantly different types of employment markets and different
salary structures. The three models could also serve as tools for compar-

4 Nieh et al: Statistical Pickage for the Social Sciences, New York. McGraw
Hill. 1975. 675 p.

114 103
 Entployment and career opportunities after graduation

ison of the earnings phenomena experienced by different types of grad-

uates. It should, however, be noted that the specification of the regres-
sion model in the three areas will change inscrar as the variable 'type of
institution' is concerned. For the model of 'graduates', college type
University of Philippines are included in the equation, non-University
of Philippines- graduates having a value zero for the variable, type of
institution. For the graduates of the private institutions, and those of
the University of the Philippines, the variable 'type of institution' does
not appear in the equation and only those graduates belonging to
private institutions have been considered in the regression equation for
the private institutions.
It should also be noted that the stepwise regression method was
used to identify those variables which arc more powerful in predicting
earnings.

4.5.4 The results

4.5.4.1 University of Philippines graduates.

It will be observed in Table 4.12, which gives the regression results for
all University of Philippines graduates, that the following variables are
statistically significant with F 4: (I) father's monthly income, (2) type
of firm: Government, (3) field of specialization: engineering and tech-
nology, and law and foreign service and (4) marital status. Of all the
above-mentioned variables, only the type of firm: Government has a
negative relationship with income. This implies that being employed in
the government is a disadvantage in terms of obtaining better pay
Administrative, executive and managerial positions are more
remunerative occupations than all other occupations.
Marriage adds to earnings capacity, whereas sex or age do not have
any influence.
Law and foreign service and engineering and technology as fields
of specialization have positive advantages in comparison with the other
specializations which were suppressed.

104
li u
 The world of worl, and the education-occupation adjustment

4.5.4.2 Graduates of private colleges.

As shown in Table 4.13. eight (8) variables are statistically significant (F

4) in explaining income of graduates. These are (1) field of specializa-
tion: law and foreign service and engineering and technology; (2) occu-
pation of the graduates: administrative, executive and managerial
position; (3) occupation of the father: administrative, executive and
managerial position; (4) income of the father, (5) number of years after
graduation which can be a proxy for experience: (6) sex: female; and
(7) government placement office.
Of all the eight variables, two (2) variables, vis: government place-
ment office and sex have a negative relation with income which means
that one is in a disadvantageous position in securing a job through a
government placement office and in being a female.
The other variables which explain in similar manner the income of
University of Philippines graduates are the income of father; occupa-
tion: administrative, executive and managerial position; and field of
specialization: law and foreign service and engineering and technology.
Father's ocet.pation: administrative, executive, managerial position
has a significant relation to income which is not exhibited by the
income behaviour of University of Philippines graduates. The same is
true of the number of years after graduation but this was not the case
for University of Philippines graduates. This may mean that experience
is far more important in explaining income of private college graduates
than University of Philippines graduates.

4.5.4.3 All graduates.

Table 4.14 shows the regression results for all graduates. 11 the resulting
table, there are eleven significant variables (F 4) which explain income
of graduates of all colleges and universities. These are: (I) a graduate of
University of Philippines; (2) father's monthly income; (3) sex: female;
(4) field of specialization: law and foreign service and engineering and
technology; (5) being employed in the economic sector: financing, real
estate, insurance and business services;(6) occupation: administrative,
executive and managerial; (7) number of years after graduation; (8)
waiting period; (9) type of firm where one is employed, i.e.
Government and (10) marital status.

105
116
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Of all the variables, there are three which showed a negative rela-
tion to income, viz.: being employed in the tiovernment sector, sex:
female and waiting period, i.e. it is a disadvantage to be female and to
be employed in the government sector. Likewise. having waited long is
to the disadvantage of a graduate. This is understandable, for having
waited for a job for sometime, one is tempted to accept a low-paying
job. On the other hand, the graduates do not benefit from waiting for a
highly paid job.
The predictive capacity of the three regression models is different.
The coefficient of determination for earnings function of all graduates
is 0.51175 (i.e. 51.75 per cent of the variation in earnings of the gradu-
ates could be explained by the model); that for the graduates of private
institutions is 0.41028, i.e. 41.02 per cent of earning variation is
explained by the model. In the case of the University of the Philippines
graduates R2 = 0.52289, i.e. 52.28 per cent of earning variation is
explained by the model.

4.6 Job satisfaction

With the Ubove-mentioned levels of income, are the employed graduates
satisfied with their job? The answer is the majority (54 per cent) of the
employed graduates are satisfied (For details, see Table 4.15) and the
reasons are as follows.

(a) Job provides self-fulfillment.

(b) Able to utilize talents.

(c) Good employee relations.

(d) Job offers secure future.

(e) Good prospect for career.

(f) Good income.

(g) Ample time for family and hobbies.

106

117
 The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment

These reasons for satisfaction were also the variables identified by

the employed graduates in HELMS I. However, there were more grad-
uates (63.3 per cent) in HELMS I who were satisfied with their jobs
compared to only 54 per cent of the employed graduates in HELMS II.
The likely explanation for this is that many of them are still in the job-
transition period. Note that they are still young (average age = 24) and
recent graduates of 1978-1979. In short, at the time of the survey. they
were at most two years on the job since graduation.
Reasons for job satisfaction have some slight variation across
typology of college. To the graduates of University of Philippines and
Catholic schools, self-fulfillment in one's job is of paramount impor-
tance. This factor ranks only second among the graduates of Protestant
colleges, proprietary and foundation-type of institution and third for the
graduates of other government colleges. Possibility to utilize talents in
the job ranks first among the graduates of Protestant, other government
colleges and foundation-type of institutions. Good employee relations is
the most important reason for job satisfaction of the graduates of
pr^nrietary colleges and it ranked second for the graduates of
Protestant, Catholic and other Government colleges. This is of lesser
value to graduates of University of Philippines and foundation type of
institution. Good income is not as important as many people expect it
to be. It ranks only fourth among the graduates of Protestant colleges
who, unfortunately, are the least paid of all the graduates; fifth among
the graduates of other Government colleges and sixth among the gradu-
ates of University of Philippines and all other colleges. (For details, see
Table 4.16).
Those who were dissatisfied identified the reasons as follows,
ranked in accordance with degree of importance. (See details in Table
4.171.

(a) Lack of opportunities for self-fulfillment.

(b) Poor prospects for promotion.

(c) Job being not suited to personal objective.

(d) Poor working conditions.

(e) Unable to apply college training.

107
118
 Employment and -dreer opportunities after graduation

(f) Cannot get along with co-workers.

The reasons for job dissatisfaction vary by type of college. The lack
of opportunities for self-fulfillment ranks first, in the reasons for job
dissatisfaction for graduates of University of Philippines, Catholic,
Protestant and Proprietary collet,. It ranks second among graduates
of other government colleges and foundation-type institutions.
However, all graduates ranked the factor of not being able to get along
with co-workers as such, implying that employed graduates are tolerant
of the idiosyncracies of co-employees. (For details, see Table 4.18).

4.7 Education-occupation adjustment

Graduates are faced not only with the task of obtaining employment but
also with landing a job that corresponds to their academic preparation.
A reason for refusing a job offer, as shown in the chapter on unemploy-
ment, is that the job is not in the required field of specialization. The
findings on job satisfaction corroborate this. The data show that job
satisfaction rests on being able to utilize one's talents, and, a major
reason for job dissatisfaction is not being able to apply college training
and the lack of opportunities for self-fulfillment.
In the light of these considerations, it is imperative to look into the
relationship between educational background, or, the one hand, and the
kind of education and training required by the job, on the other.
Correspondingly, the respondents in this study were asked to identify
their field of specialization and, at the same time, to specify the most
relevant field of specialization in a current job. Data generated were
intended to yield insights in various fields of specialization where there
is meaningful education-occupation correspondence and in areas where
such correspondence is minimal. The latter situation will certainly pose
a problem, and policy makers will have to look into ways of mini-
mizing it. One benefit is t:iat college-bound students and their parents
can be properly informed on fields of specialization having the least
correspondence between education and occupation, and thus, assist
them in deciding between alternatives.

108
 The world of work and the education-occupation adjustment

4.7.1 Employment in the field of specialization

Employment in the field of specialization v.ries across broad groupings

of academic specialization, i.e. liberal arts programmes and applied
sciences. Also, within a disaggregated field of specialization, variations
maybe noted. On the whole, more graduates of the applied sciences
(73.28 per cent) are employed in their own field of specialization. The
opposite seems true in the liberal arts programmes, where only 46.95
per cent are employed in their field of specialization. These findings are
not surprising, considering that the liberal arts graduates receive a well-
rounded education that allows for greater flexibility in the job market.
On the other hand, training in the applied sciences is so specialized, it
narrows down the job options considerably.
In the Philippine situation, graduates of liberal arts programme
constitute the bulk of the country's educational output, along with grad-
uates of business administration. Faced with an excess in supply over
demand, liberal arts graduates are forced to take jobs not requiring a
liberal arts background. The data on the unemployment of liberal arts
graduates at 46.2 per cent confirm a surplus. Had liberal arts graduates
not taken jobs other than in their specialization, unemoloyment would
have been a lot worse.

4.i.2 Liberal arts programmes

On the average, 46.95 per cent of liberal arts graduates were employed
in their field of specialization. The percentage of employment is highest
in music and fine arts at 82.4 per cent (For details, see Table 4.19).
The least in employment rating is in languages. The reason music and
fine arts graduates are gainfully employed is that they are able to be
self-employed; supply would always stay within demands. As far as
musicians are concerned, there is a large and continuing demand for
their services abroad. Unemployment among music and fine arts gradu-
ates is therefore below the average.
Liberal arts graduates in languages have a hard time getting
employment in the field of specialization; in fart. only 16.7 per cent of
the graduates have found suitable work. The tail-enders in the job
market are graduates in humanities (66.7 ptr cent) and economics (66.7
per cent). In the humanities, the problem is the peculiarity of the

120 109
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

subject matter which does not clearly specify the nature of specializa-
tion. leading to vague job specifications. For graduates in languages. the
level of development in the Philippines is such that the demand for
language experts is not that high, except for those who want to go into
language teaching. It is disturbing that economics graduates cannot land
a job as economists, considering that a country that is moving towards
faster growth and modernization ought to have many economists. The
explanations for this may be: (1) the quality of graduates in economics
is not on par with the requirements; (2) the demand is such that one
has to gain experience before one is employed as an economist; (3)
economists have to pass through a transition job requiring related types
of background work before employment as economists. The data seems
to suppon the third explanation. While 33.3 per cent of the economics
graduates were employed in the field of specialization, more (35.89 per
cent) were employed in closely related jobs i.e. business administration.
In the other fields of specialization in the liberal arts programme,
the percentage of suitable employment is above the over-all average for
the liberal arts programmes, viz :

Social Sciences 47.1 per cent

Physical Sciences 50.0 per cent
Mass Communication 56.5 per cent
Mathematics 56.3 per cent

The nature of this phenomenon is corroborated by the data on the

unemployment rate for social science graduates which is 18.5, physical
and biological sciences 25.4 per cent and all other liberal arts
programmes 46.6 per cent.

4.7.3 Applied sciences

Graduates of applied sciences have found it easier to find employment

in their field of specialization. However, there is a variation across
disaggrzgated fields. In highly specialized fields with clearly defined
occupations, the percentages of graduates employed in the field of
specialization are high, e,g, dentistry, (100 per cent), medicine (95.5 per
cent) law (87.1 per cent), vetcr;aary medicine (87.5 per cent), nursing
(87.9 per cent), medical technology (80 per cent), and business adminis-

110
121
 The world of worl, and the education-occupation adjustment

tration (92.4 per cent). This reflects demand, as shown in the manpower
forecasts. However, the high employment of business graduates seems
to negate the contention that these graduates are employed in their field
of specialization due manpower demand. A proof of this statement may
be found in the data showing that graduates in the liberal arts
progrtanmes and the applied sciences are displacing graduates of busi-
ness administration, to the extent that 25.22 per cent of the liberal arts
graduates and 11.38 per cent of the applied sciences graduates are
employed in jobs requiring training in business administration (See
Table 4.19). A further discussion regarding this matter is included in
the analysis of graduates employed in fielas other than their degree
specialization.

4.7.4 Educational occupational flexibilities

As discussed earlier in this chapter, many graduates in both the liberal

arts programmes and the applied sciences are not employed in their
fields of specialization. In this section, an analysis is made of the kind of
educational training required for the job held. Some of these graduates
are likely to be unhappy on the job, since a major reason for job dissat-
isfaction is not being able to apply one's talents and training. Also such
employment entails further training to allow them to adjust to their
respective jobs. If this cannot be done, there will be much wastage of
time and resources.

4.7.4.1 Libcral arts flexibilities programme.

The tendency of liberal arts graduates who are not employed in their
field of specialization is to accept a job requiring training in business
administration. On the average, 25.22 per cent of liberal arts graduates
are holding jobs requiring training business administration. Across fields
of specialization in the liberal arts programmes, there is some variation.
For example, 50 per cent of the graduates majoring in languages are
employed in a job requiring training in business administration. (For
detail see Table 4.20). In fact, more language majors are employed in
jobs requiring a business background than in jobs requiring a language
background. Economics graduates (35.89 per cent) are also likely to

111
122
 Employment and career opportunities after graduanon

land a job requiring a business background. Possibl, that is not such a

discomforting position for economics majors. because the two disci-
plines are closely inter-linked.
Among the humanities majors 33.3 per cent are employed in jobs
requiring a business background. The mathematics majors are next with
25 per cent; social sciences, 17.6 per cent; mass communications, 17.5
per cent; physical sciences, 16.7 per cent; and music and fine arts 5.9
per cent. One can just imagine the agony of a music and fine arts major
who is emp!oyed in a job requiring knowledge of accounting, finance
and investment analysis.
The next most frequently taken job of graduates of the liberal arts
programmes who are not employed in their field of specialization is one
requiring training in teacher education. There are 10.96 per cent so
employed among liberal at i graduates, broken down into: languages
(16.7 per cent), physical sciences (12.5 per cent), economics (10.26 per
cent), mathematics (6.39 per cent) and mass communications. (For
details, see Table 4.21).

4.7.4.2 Flexibilities in the applied sciences.

A minority of graduates in the applied sciences not employed in the

field of specialization are employed in a job requiring training in busi-
ness adanistration (11.38 per cent) and teacher education (11 per
cent).
Graduates of foreign service have the highest percentage (30 per
cent) of employment in a field requiring training in business administra-
tion, followed by nutrition graduates 26.3 per cent, home economics (25
per cent,, vocational - technical education 19 per cent, and fisheries 16.7
per cent. Few other applied science graduates who have taken a job
requiring teacher education background are low on the scale. (For
details, see Tables 4.20 and 4.21).

4.7.5 Overall occupation education flexibilities

On the whole, ay graduates in the applied sciences have taken a job

in their line of specialization (73.28 per cent). What is quite problemat-
ical is the case of the graduates in various liberal arts programme where

112

123
 The world of work and the educatton-occupation adjustment

the majority are holding jobs not consistent with their field of speciali-
zation. So far, jobs requiring background in business (25.22 per cent for
the liberal arts graduates and 11.38 per cent for the applied sciences
graduates), and teacher education (10.96 per cent for the liberal arts
and 11 per cent for the applied science graduates) have absorbed gradu-
ates who cannot be employed in their field of specialization. This is
shown in the following table:

Graduates in
Liberal Arts Applied Science

% Employment in the field

of specialization 26.95% 73.28%

% Employment in a job requiring

Business background 25.22% 11.38%

% Employment in a job requiring

teacher education background 10.96% 11.0%

Total 63.13% 95.66%

The table shows that jobs requiring business background and

teacher education take care of 36.18 per cent of all employment for
liberal arts graduates and 22.38 per cent for the applied science gradu-
ates. Graduates in a job requiring other fields of specialization outside
their own business and teacher education account for a very small
percentage, i.e. only 4.34 per cent for graduates `n the applied sciences
and 16.8 per cent for the graduates in the liberal 2rts.
College-bound students and their parents should be aware of the
greater possibility of having to search for a job in other than their own
specialization in the liberal arts programmes, they should take account
of the conclusions drawn here and correspondingly decide on alternative
courses of action suited to their objectives and preferences.
The policy makers and the public should be concerned with the
seriousness of the problem of misplaced graduates in the liberal arts
programme and in the applied sciences, although the latter is of lesser
magnitude. Planning could protect future graduates from the disap-
pointment of being forced by economic circumstances to take a job not
consistent with their training and professional background,

113
124
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

While at the moment jobs requiring a background in business and

teacher education are absorbing graduates who cannot be better placed
in their fields of specialization, policy makers should try to determine
the abscrptive capability of this sector if the present employment trend
is to continue. A strategic intervention ought preferably to be initiated
now to prevent the probable undesirable outcomes of misplaced gradu-
ates.

114
125
 The world of work and the education- occupation adjustment

Table 4.1: Occupation of employed graduates (in percentages)

HELMS 11

HELMS I Male Females Total

91, % % %

Professional, Technical
and Related Workers 41.67 65.3 69.2 68.7

Administrative, Executive
and Managerial Workers 5.95 7.6 3.0 4.9

Clerical and
Related Workers 37.04 7.6 18.3 13.4

Sales 1.75 7.6 2.8 5.0

Service 2.10 1.6 0.6 0.6

Agriculture 0.70 4.5 2.5 3.6

Production, Transportation
and Related Workers 9.29 4.2 2.7 2.7

Armed Forces 0.50 0.1 0 0.1

Unclassified 1.3 0.9 1.0

Total 99.8 100.0 900 100.0

126 115
 Table 4.2: Occupational classification of employed graduates 3y type of college (in percentages)

U.P. Other State Catholic Prooslisnt Proprietary Foundation Total

Colleges

1. Professional. Technical
and Related Workers 73.7 84.0 72.0 76.2 60.6 40.5 68.7
2. Administrative, Executive
and Managerial Workers 11.3 3.8 2.8 4.9
3. Clerical and Related
Workers 5.3 5.0 14.4 14.3 23.7 2.7 13 4
4. Sales Workers 3.8 10 6.1 2.4 7.3 2.7 4.9
5 Service Workers 1.5 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.6
6. Agricultural Workers 2.3 50 0.0 4.8 03 48 6 3.6
7. Production. Transportation
and Related Workers 30 4.0 2.3 2.4 25 2.7 2.8
8 Armed Forces 0.0 00 0.0 00 0.3 0.0 0.1

9. Unclassified by
Occupation 06 10 0.0 0.0 1.6 2.7 1.0

7 oral 100.0 100.0 100 0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

 Table 4.3: Industrial classification of employer of the graduates

HELMS 11
Male Female Total HELMS 1

N °o N % N cii, %

27 52 9 24 47.1 51 6.0 3.5

1. Agriculture
4 100.0 4 05 12.5
2 Mining and Quarrying
76 59 8 51 40.2 127 14.9 13.1
3 Manufacturing
!O 62 5 6 37.5 16 1.9 5.8
4. r lectricity. Gas and Water
20 76.9 6 231 26 31 2.6
5 Com4ruction
14 45.2 17 54.8 31 3.6 3.9
6. Wholesale and Retail

7. Transportation, Storage 4.5

11 40 7 16 59.3 27 3.2
and Communication

8. Finance. Insurance. Real Estate 6.2

51 32.3 107 67.7 158 18 6
and Business Services

9. Community Social and 48.1 47.8

122 29.8 287 70.2 409
Personal Services
1 100 0 I 0.1
10. Unclacsified
515 850 100.0 100.0
Total 335

128
oo
Table 4.4: Industrial classification of graduates by type of colleges (in percentages)

U.P. Govt Catholic Pi otestant Proprietary Foundation

Colleges

1 Agriculture 89 61 8 24 1.6 48 5

2 Mining and
Ouarrying 1.2 24

7.1 14 8 14 3 17 4 12.1
3. Manufacturing 16 0

4. Electricity.
Gas and Water 16 23 2.4 26

5 Conti uction 3.1 47 24 36

6 Wholesale and
Retail 1.6 10 3.1 6.9 3.0

7. Transportation. Storage
and Communication 3.1 10 16 5.3

8 Finance. Real Estate and

19.5 3.1 28 9 14 3 19 7 6.1
Business Services

9 Community Services 45.1 81 6 43.8 61.9 42 4 30 3

 The world of wolf, and the education-occupation adjustment

Table 4.5: Type of the firm/organization of the employer of graduates

N %
1. Public ro.tor

1.1 Nwional Government 221 24.5

1.1 Provincial
Government 18 2.0

1.3 Local Government 60 6.6

1.4 Gov't. Corporation 56 6.2

2. Private Sector 60.7

2.1 Corporation 43.1

11 Part ner%hip 70 7.8

2.3 Single Proprietorship 89 9.8

3. Total 903 100.0

119
130
 Table 4.6: Mean income of employed graduates by occupational classification and type of college

Other
U.P Govt Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundation Total
College..

1. Professional. Technical
and Related Wm keys 1 507 118 692 99 1 032 35 837 07 935 85 1 142 33 1 098 41

2. Administrative.
Executive and
Managerial Workers 2 302 08 984.00 1 353.33 1 941.15

3. Clerical Workers 1 152.62 940 00 984 72 688 83 852 69 902 95

4 Sales Workers 1 802 OD 2(1(1 00 1 009 43 900 00 1 033 86 60 DO 1 179 31

5. Syr% ice Workers 1 125 0(1 751 67 901 (111

6. Agricultural
Workers 995.00 504 40 787 50 494 00 649 53 696.87

7. Production. Transport-
ation and Related
Workers 1 287 25 590 (10 892 67 364.00 1 017 38 1 145 56

8. Unclassified 1 787 (10 775 00 608 50 969 00

1 oral 1 362 20 687 63 1 020.50 802.10 928.83 987 56 1 096 67

131
 The world of woln and the educanott-occupation adjustment

Table 4.7: Mean income of employed graduates by occupation and sex

Percentage of
Income Advan-
Male 1emale tagc of MEle

1. Professional. Technical and

Related Wo, kers P.1 292.96 P.977.09 24.43
I Administrative. Executive
and Managerial Worker% 1 912 68 1 979.61 (3.38)(a)

3. Clerical and Related

Workers 1 012.95 882.6K 13.78

4. Sales Workers 1 284.10 978.92 23.77

5. Service Workers 751.67 1 125.00 (33.181(a'

6: Agricultural and Related

Workers 705.87 693.28 1.78

7. Production. Tiansportation
and Related Worker% 960.63 1 290.86 (25.58)(a)

8. Unclassified 1411.33 637.25 54.85

(a) Female income advantage over male.

121
t.)
t4
Table 4.8. Mean income of employed graduates by degree programme and by type of college (in P.)

Other
11.P. Col Catholic Prntestant Proprietary Foundation Total
Colleges

1 Agriculture 971 64 531 17 1 000 00 612 511 494 00 98S 70 864 49

2. Business Adminis-
tration and
Commerce 1776.54 973.33 1 126.93 852.11 924 73 1 076 09

3 Engineering and
Technology 1 933.91 616 67 I 049 12 1 174 17 1 171.02 1 373.15

4 Food Nutrition
and Dietetics 1 359 57 588.50 1 075.17 1 000 00 950 00 1 192 17

5 Law and Foreign

Service 1 952.50 1 880.00 1 000 00 1 657.67 1 861.24

6 Humanities 1720.00 1144.44 700.00 886.25 1160.43

7. Physical and
Biological Sciences 1 343 80 978 57 603.00 650 00 1 156 40

8 Social Sciences 1 586.57 1 220.92 664.36 751.68 1 225.03

9. Medical Sciences 1 128.57 839.14 754 40 842 68 928 61

10 Music and Fine

Arts 1 714.29 1 071.67 715.00 1 222.50

11 Teacher Education 1 386 00 699.54 596 38 590 50 628.00 733 20

12 Liberal Arts 2 957.50 70_ 56 685 00 1 601.00

133
 The world of work and the cducatton-ocuwatton adjustment

Table 4.9: Mean income of employed graduates by degree programme

and sex

Percentage of
Income Advan-
Male Female tage of Male

1. Agriculture P 898 72 P 878.70 12.35

2. Business Adminiso at ion

and Commerce I 205.61 1 033.20 14.30

3. Engineering and
Technology 1 400.33 1 118.08 20.16

4. Food Nutrition and

Dietetics 709.0(1 I 261.19 (41.78)(a)
5. Law and Foreign
Service 1 678.15 2 026.58 (17.19)(a)

6. Humanities 1 433.33 1 030.63 28.09

7. Physical and Biological

Science 1 384.83 945.54 31.72

8. Social Science 1 405.42 1 131.83 19.47

9. Medical Sciences 1 110.87 857.26 17.11

10.Music and Fine Arts 1 481.87 1 015.00 31.50

11:leacher Trair ;-le. 937 12 698 69 25 44

12.Liberat Arts 1 572.50 1 715.00 (8.31)(a)

(a) Female advantage over male

134 123
 Employment and career opportunities after giaduanon

Table 4.10: Mean income of employed graduates by industrial

classification and sex

Percentage
Income
Advantage
Male Female of Male

1. Agriculture P.1 063.44 P.836.50 21.25

2. Mining and Ouarrying 1 321.50

3 Manufacturing 1 383 95 1 121.50 18.96

4. EI:yotricity. Gas and

Water 1 353.50 1 179.17 12.88

5. Construction 1 444.85 830.00 42.55

6. Wholesale and Retail 1 260.77 1 091.24 13.45

7. Transportation. Storage
and Communication 1 124.55 1 061.54 5.60

8. Finance. Real Estate

Insurance and Business
Services 1 683.82 1 213.27 27.94

9. Community Services 1 071.08 861.20 19.59

135
124
 Table 4.11: Mean income of employed graduates by industrial classification and type of college

Other 4
....
U.P Got Catholic Pi otestant Proprietary Foundation Total
Colleges
--,
.....
I Agricultural Sectoi 1 320 19 544.50 1 000 00 725 00 746 40 675 69 945.78
O
......,
2 Mining and OuarrTirv; 1 203.67 1 675011 1 321.50 .:'
-4

3 Manufacturing I 845 98 689 00 1 057 11 864 84 1 003 43 I 047.67 1 272 22 "- -1

A
4 I lectricity. Gas ?,
....
and Water 1 675 (II) 841.67 1 0110 00 1 298 13 1 288 12 3.

5 Construction 2 050.00 - 1 044 00 1 070 00 941 55 1 321 88 ......^

6 Wholesale and
600.00 1 164.70 ...
Retail 2 916.67 200 00 815.00 1 053 86 ,-,

7 Transportation. Storage n
and Communication 1 329.17 900.00 1 460.00 958 33 1 090 42 t
n
sz
A
8. Financing. Insurance. ...
Real Estate. Business :-..

Services 1 842.45 1 103.67 1 263 57 916 00 1 068 67 680.00 1 359.;0

E:'.
,...,..

9 Community Services 1 273 59 687 08 869 41 713 80 802 91 1 239.30 923.44 ....
,..
3
5.

136
1,4
iT
Table 4.12: Vat tables in the regression model: UP graduates

VARIABLES B BETA F

10.777 rt".
V127 Father's Gross Monthly Income .2063264 .28025 z
V2041 Type-Firm = National Government -.8414876 - 33156 13 628
V1323 Engineering and Technology 872:920 25978 7.159
V2052 Admin,. Executive. Managerial Workers 6447223 14868 3 207
V1325 Law and Foreign Ser.% ice 9210416 1389 6.372
V1002 Marled 6283579 .17932 4.507
V1321 Agricultu -a' -.8244451 1643o 2.610 E,
V1236 Agricultural and Related Workers
iFathers) - 5316681 - 12748 2.031
ra
V1232 Admin . Executive and Managerial
Worker (Father's) - 2687438 -.09084 1.261
V263 Waiting Pei iod-After Actively Looking -.1651688 - 12997 2.5:7
V2061 Agriculture. Fishery and Forestry 4830824 11583 1.325
V1237 Prod . Trans Operators and Labourers
(Father's) 4368687 06977 .665
V1324 Food Nutrition and Dietetics - 2619816 --.04184 .204
V0034 Region IV .1459369 .04165 .244
V270 Factor Job-Government Placement Office 5307511E-01 04074 .244
VO062 Female .834550E-01 03334 .12.9
V1341 Two Years After Graduation .1152569 04665 145
V0011 Region' 4251)731) 03091 145 In
V00113 Region XIII 2048120 (1291x 096
V21)68 Financing and Business Services .7530534.1)1 02444 070
V2057 Prod.. Trans. Operators and Labourers 2242766 -02798 .093
V101 Age las of last birthday) -.6154006E-01 02851 .106
V2054 Sales Workers - 2229070 -.2281 WO
V2065 Construction 1112208 01596 .034
V204" TypeFirm = Single Proprietorship -.1146898 -01431 .031
(Con Cant) 2 913055

= 4.12083 DF = 24.94 R2 = .52289

137
 Table 4 13: Variables in the regression model: Private college graduates

VARIABLES

V0082 Female - 4374740

-
B BETA

-.21744
-
11.853
F

V1341 Two Years After Gradution .4142252 .20254 12.701

VI27 Father', Gross Monthly Income 8152312E-01 13800 5.366
V1325 Law and Foreign Service 1 044901 15958 7.985
V1232 Admin . Exec. and Managerial Workers
(Father's) 5380558 17708 9.966
V270 Factor JobGovernment Placement Office -.1340971 -.14342 6.498
Admin . Executive. Managerial Workers .6343784 .11142 4.221
V2052
V2068 Financing and Business Services .2694455 .10604 3.399
Engineering and Technology .3275746 .12787 4.184
V1323
V2054 Sales Workers -.2922163 -.06927 1.549
V2061 Agriculture. Fishery and Forestry -.6737922 .-13792 3.684
lypeFirm = National Government 1524770 .05748 .803
V2041
Married .2739460 .09493 2.595
V1002
V1236 Agricultural and Related Workers
(Father's) -.2979019 -.10313 2.834
Waiting Period-After Actively Looking 6991929-01 -.09342 2.820
V263
V:237 Prod.. Trans. Operators and Labourers
(Father's) 2273945 -.08065 1.895
Construction -.3998101 -.05006 .8355
V2065
Food Nutrition and Dietetics -.3931417 -.04922 .833
V1324
Region IX - 4214471 -.03745 .456
V0039
TypeFirm = Single Proprietorship -.1148400 -.04027 .522
V2047
Region VII .3094036 .04727 .675
V0037
Age as of last birthday) -.6012923E-01 -.04109 .450
V101
-.8770752E-01 .04020 344
V00313 Region XIII
Region IV .1031365 .02723 155
V0034
Agrictiltural .1031365 .02728 .155
V1321
Prod.. Trans. Operators and Labourers -.4372452E-01 -.00547 .010
VV2057
(Constant) 2.673062

F = 5.79767 DF = 27.225 R2 = .41028

;,.1
-4

138
rt
Do
Table 4.14 Variables is the regression model: All graduates

VARIABLES

v1301 1.;.P Siem 8181784

B
_
iir.i A
.31478
-F

56 076
V12- Father's Gross Monthly Income 1081616 .16393 14.736
V00,..12 Female --.2999198 -.12668 8.751
V1325 Law & Foreign Sersice 1.067597 16859 20 462
V2068 Financing and Business Services .3581715 .11678 9 099
V1323 Engineering and Technology 4938515 .15931 14 0
V2052 Admin . Exec.. Managerial Workers 7284384 .12882 11.853
V1341 Two Years After Graduation .2988971 .12491 11.471
V263 Waiting Period -.8446348E-01 - .09(189 5.881
V22041 Type-Firm = National Government -.2461677 :09077 4.690
V1236 Agricultural and Related Workers (Father's) 2217646 06368 2.414
V1002 Married 2935156 .08919 5 431
v003'.3 Region X111 - 1654447 -.0320? 0.505
., ''-ii Factor JobGosernment Placement Office - 7522887E-01 -.06968 3.173
V2054 Sales Workers -.280(1133 -.044826 1.621
V1232 Admin.. Exec. and Managerial Workers
(Father's) 193181 .05832 2.367
V2057 Prod.. Trans. Operators and Labourers -.3400036 -.04620 1.451
V0031 Region I .3566597 .05056 1.763
V0034 Region IV .1144214 .04402 .957
V0039 Region IX 6294529 -.03687 .989
V1324 Food Nutrition and Dietetics -.2536737 -03291 .781
V2047 Type-Firm = Single Proprietorship -.1122481 -.02866 .577
V2065 Construction .2433267 .02830 .580
V:321 Agricultural - 8442372E-01 - 01878 .178
VIIII Age (& of last binhday) 5027343E401 -.02868 .517
V:23 Prod .1 rans Operators & Labourers
;Father's) - 9604144E -01 -.02714 .481
V2061 Agriculture. Fishery and Forestry -.960670E-01 -.01860 .169

(Constant) 2.415822

r= 15.29498 DF = 27.394 R2 = .51175

139
 The world of work and the education- occupation adjustment

Table 4.15: Reasons for job satisfaction

Weighted
Average(a) Rank

1. Job provides self-

fulfillment 3.63 1

2. Able to utilize talents 3.57 2

3. Good employee relation,' 3.51 3

4. Job offers secure future 3.39 4

5. Good prospect for career 3.38 5

6. Good income 3.17 6

7. Ample time off for family and hobbies 2.80 7

8. Opportunity to t,3vel 2.73 8

9. Scholarship opportunities 2.27 9

(a) A valuz of 5 indicates extraordinari:y important, A very important. 3

important. 2 barely important, and 1 not important.

140 129
 Table 4.16: Reasons for job satisfaction by type of college (Ranked according to order of importance)

1.; P Other Go%1 Catholic Puotestant Proprietary Foundation

Schools

1 Joh wositles self-fulfillment I 3 1 2 2

2 Ahle to utilize talents -,

I 4 I 3 1

3 Good prospects for career

advancement 3 6 5 5 4 5

4 Good employee relations 4 2 2_ ' 1 4

Joh offers a secured future 5 5 1 3 5 3

6 Good income 6 5 6 4 6 6

7 Opportunity to travel 7 9 8 6 8 8

Ample time-off for family and

and hobbies 8 7 7 7 7 7

Q Scholarship opportunities Q 8 Q 8 9 9

141
 The world of it.orl, and the edutanon-oecupauon adjustment

Table 4.17: Reasons for job dissatisfaction

Weighted
Average(a) Rank

1 Lack of opportunities for ,telf-

fulfillment 2.31 1

2.53 1
2. Poor ptospects for promotion

3. Job not suited to personal

objectives 2.63 3

4. Poor working condition,: 3.63 4

5. Unable to apply school training 3.64 5

6. Cannot get along with co-workers 5.49 6

(a) Rank 1 as the most relevant reason and 6 the least important.

142 13:
t...1
Table .1.18 Reasons for job dissatisfaction by type of college (Ranked according to order of importance)

U.P Othe: Got Catholic. PI ototant Proprietai y Foundation

School.,

I Not enough opportunitie. for

.elffulfillment I 2 I I 1 2

2. Not suited to personal objectives 2 3 2 2 2 5

3 Poor prospects for promotion 3 1 1 3 3 I

4. Poor working conditions 4 4 5 4 5 3

5 Unable to apply college training 5 5 4 5 4 4

b Cannot get along with co-workers 6 6 6 6 6 6

Rank 1 = highest. Rank 6 = lowest

143
The world of wort and tlw education -occupatton adjustntent

Table Academic qualifications and academic yob requirements

Percentage of Ciaeuates f mplo.eil

in the field of Specialization

1 Liberal Arts Prognimmes

1.1 Lconomics 33 3

12 Humanities 333

13 Languages 16 7

14 Mass Communication 565

1.5 Mathematics 56

6 Music and Fine Arts 62 4

1.7 Physical Sciences 500

1.8 Social Sciences 47 I

2 Applied Sciences

2.1 Apiculture 705

2 92 4
Business Administration

2.3 Dentistry 100 0

24 Education 604

25 Engineering 76 3

2.6 Fisheries t

2.7 Foieign Service 40 10

:8 Home Economics 41 7

29 La% 67 I

2 10 Medicine 95.5

2 Technolor. SA) o

2 12 Nautical Science 66 7

2 11 Nursing 8-9
2I4 Nut; mon > Q

2 15 Veterinary Medicine 6; 5

2 16 Vocal mai-Technical 61 g

217 Acerage 13 26

144 133
 Employment and career opportunstso after paduanon

Table 4.20: Percentage of graduates employed in a job reo.,:iring

training in business administration

cc
Field of Specialiation

1. Liberal Arts Programme

1.1 Economics 35 So

1.2 Humanit.e. 33;

13 Langupges 50 0

1.4 Mass Communication 17.4

1.5 Mathematics 25 0

1.6 Music and Fine Arts 5.9

1.7 Physical Sciences 16.7

8 Social Sciences 17 6

1.9 Average 25 22

2. Applied Sciences

21 Agriculture 9.1

22 Education 47

23 Engineering 66

2.4 Fisheries 83

25 Foreign Service 30 0

26 Home Economics 16 7

2/ L3ss 32

28 Medicine 30

Nutrition 26 3

2.10 Veterinary Medicine 12 5

2 11 VocationalTechnical 4S

2 12 Average 11 3%,

134
145
 The world of $vorl, and the education-occupation adjustment

Table 4.21: Percentages of graduates employed in a job requiring

training in teacher education

Field of Specialization Percentage

1. Liberal Arts Programmes

1.1 Economics 10.26

1.2 Languages 16.7

1.3 Mass Communication 4.3

1.4 Mathematics 6.3

1.5 Physical Sciences 12.5

1.6 Social Sciences 15.7

1.7 Average 10.96

2. Applied Sciences

2.1 Agriculture 6.8

2.2 Business Administration 1.5

2..; Engineering 1.5

2.4 Fisheries 16.7

2.5 Home Economics 25.0

2.6 Law 6.5

2.7 Vocational- Technical 19.0

2.8 Average 11.0

146 135
5. The graduates in search of a job

The case of the educated unemployed presents a very crucial problem.

This phenomenon results in wastage of manpower resources which
could be put to better use in promoting the well-being of society.
Instead, they continue to be a burden in the sense that trity depend on
others for survival. The extent of dependence may be tolerable in devel-
oping countries where family ties are still quite strong and the unem-
ployed is not bothered by his predicament. In westernized societies,
however, being unemployed is often an agonizing experience.
The existence of a huge number of educated unemployed can lead
to a certain amount of political instability in a cow try, for they, being
among the educated class and knowledgeable about the privileges
society can offer, feel doubly deprived. The causes of educated unem-
ployment have to be seriously studied if we are to formulate policies,
programmes and projects that would minimize the problem.
An analysis of the unemployment situation in the Philippinesl°
with the use of HELMS I data revealed that educated unemployment is
of a voluntary nature in the sense that the young graduates are still
shopping around for a suitable career. In short, they are still in the job-
hunting stage, trying to evaluate various job and career options. One
has K distinguish between the incidenc° of unemployment and the
duration of unemployment. It is quite common for incidence of unem-

10 Ps3charopoulos G. and Sanyal B. 'Student Expectations and Labour Market

Performance: The Case of the Philippines', Higher Education,Vol.!0. 1931,
pp.449-472. Elsevier. Amsterdam.

136 1,47
 The graduates in search of a job

ployment to be high, especially among the young college graduates.

However, the duration has been quite short. In HELMS I. the average
waiting period was around six months. This waiting period is usually
reduced to two months when one counts from the time when the grad-
uate actively looks for a job. The voluntary nature of unemployment in
the Philippines is shown by the fact that the waiting period counted
from the time of graduation up to the time of employment is over a
year whereas when graduates are actively looking for a job (as shown in
Chapter 3, and utilizing the best method of getting a job, they can actu-
ally get a job within two to six months. Unfortunately, however, many
of the unemployed are either not actively looking for a job or are not
utilizing the most effective method for landing a job. On the whole the
rate of unemployment, i.e. those looking for a job and those who were
jobless at the time of the HELMS II survey in 1981, was 19.16 per
cent. (Note that this definition of unemployment is different from the
definition of government official statistics where an unemployed person
refers to one who has not worked for an hour within a period of a
quarter of a year). Ur.employment among the females is much higher
(21.66 per cent) than among males (15.56 per cent).

5.1 Characteristics of graduates in search of a job

5.1.1 Age, sex and civil status of the unemployed

More than half of the educated unemployed belong to the age bracket
20-23 and 41.2 per cent are in age bracket 24-27. (See Table 5.1). Only
a small minority are above age 27 with 3.3 per cent in age bracket 28-31
and 1.6 per cent in age bracket 32-35. The mean age is 23.71. This is a
little lower than the mean age of dropouts at 24.3 and employed gradu-
ates at 24.15.
Possibly because they are young, 79.3 per cent are still single. For
details, see Table 5.2). These graduates are more predominantly female
(66.7 per cent) compared to the sample percentage of 59 and the ratio
of females among the dropouts (53.6 per cent) and employed graduates
(60 i..- : cent). (See Table 5.3). This comparison clearly shows that
more females than male graduates did not attain employment.

148 137
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

5.1.2 The married unemployed graduates

Most of the married unemployed are females (85.76 per cent) whose
husbands are all employed. Of the male married unemployed, only two
have an equally unemployed wife. It is possible that the employment
status of their spouse was a contributing factor to their having made a
long-term commitment to married life.
The mean income of the spouse of the unemployed graduate at the
time of the survey, was P.1,504.27 which is lower than the rr an income
of the spouse of employed graduates at P.1,771.39. However, it is higher
than the mean income of the spouse of college dropouts at P.1,370.15.
As far as the occupation of the spouse is concerned, the majority
are professional, technical and related workers (27.7 per cent); clerical
and related workers (21.3 per cent); and production transportation and
related workers (17.3 per cent). (For details, see Table 5.4). The indus-
trial classification of the employer of the spouse, just like the employed
graduates, is concentrated in community, social and personal services
(42.5 per cent) followed by transport, storage and communication (20
per cent and manufacturing (17.5 per cent). (For details, see Table 5.5).

5.1.3 Parental background of the educated unemp'oyed

The majority of the. parents of the educated unemployed, like the

employed graduates, are in business administration, law and foreign
service, and engineering and technology, with 32.5 per cent, 25.4 per
cent and 16.4 per cent respectively. While these fields represent the
predominant academic specializations of the father, the data show that
the children did not follow the preference of their fathers. Note that
among the fathers, 25.4 per cent took law and foreign service, while
only 1.6 per cent among the unemployed graduates took the same
courses. (For details, see Table 5.6). The courses that continued to be
popular among the children were business Aministration (22.1 per
cent) and engineering and technology (13.9 per cent). There was a
notable shift in preference to the medical sciences, from only 7.5 per
cent among the fathers to 25.8 per cent among the children (the unem-
ployed graduates).
As to the educational attainment of the mother, teacher education
w..s the most popular field of specialization at 66 per cent. This is also

138
149
 The graduates in search of a .1',1)

true of the mothers of employed graduates (58.6 per cent) and college
dropouts (50 per cent).
The most common occupations of the fathers are tne following:

Professional, Technical and related workers 19.0 per cent

Agricultural workers 18.5 per cent

Production, transportation and related workers 17.9 per cent

Administrative, executive and managerial workers 15.8 per cent

The majority (60.3 per cent) of the mothers were non-workin,.1

housewives. Of those working, 15.6 per cent were in the professional
technical occupations and 10.5 per cent in sales. (For details, see Table
5.7).
The parents of unemployed graduates have lower terminal educa-
tion than the employed graduates. Only 51 per cent of the fathers of
the unemployed have finished college, compared to 58.7 per cent of the
employed:graduates. Moreover, there are more with only an elementary.
(22.7 per cent) and high school (26.3 per cent) terminal education. For
the employed graduates, fathers who have elementary and high school
terminal education constituted only 17.8 per cent and 23.5 per cent of
the total respectively. The mothers of the udemployed graduates like-
wise have a lower educational attainment. Only 36.2 per cent of the
mothers reached college compared to 45.3 per cent of the employed
graduates. Mothers with elementary education accounted for 31 ' per
cent for the unemployed grad .rtes, compared to 25.2 per cent for the
employed graduates. The corresponding figure for the secondary level
was 32.7 per cent for the unemployed graduates and 29.5 per cent for
the employed graduates.
The industrial classification of the employer of parents of unem-
ployed graduates were community, social and personal services (ranking
No. I at 28.7 per cent), agriculture (18.8 per cent) and manufacturing

(12.5 per cent). (For details, see Table 5.81. The manufacturing sector
was not a popular employer of parents of employed graduates.
However, this ranked high among the parents of dropouts (21.2 per
cent), and fairly high for unemployed graduates (12.5 per cent). This
situation indicates a relationship between the industrial classification of

139

150
 Employment and career oppGrtunates after graduation

employers of parents and the possibility of becoming a college dropout

or unemployed graduate.
The industrial classification of the employer of the mothers of
unemployed graduates whose work is similar to that of the college drop-
outs and the employed graduates. The most common employer's indus-
trial classification is community, social and personal services (79.1 per
cent).
The father's average gross monthly income (P.2,729.13) is lower
than that of employed graduates (P.3,187.77). (For details, see Table
5.9). The fathers of the unemployed graduates earn more than the
father of the college dropout (P.938.40). The sari,- 'attern is observed
in the mother's income. The mean income of t. other of the unem-
ployed is P.1,592.76, which is again lower than average income of the
mother of employed graduates (P.1,876.78) but higher than the income
of the mother of college dropouts (P.586.66).
Total income of the parent of unemployed graduates being lower
than that of the parent of employed graduates reveals that there is some
relationship between parental income and unemployment of graduates.
However, as will be shown in the discriminant analysis, parental income
has the least influence on employment status.

5.1.4 Educational background of the unemployed graduates

With the NCEE percentile score as indicator of pre-collegiate prepara-

tion, it was found that unemployed graduates are weaker in academic
preparation than employed graduates. However, they had better prepa-
ration than the college dropouts. The mean NCEE score of the unem-
ployed graduates was 86.17 per cent compared to that of the employed
graduates at 91.7 per cent and the college dropouts at 76.3 per cent.
The University of Philippines, the sectarian and foundation type of
institutions, institutions being highly selective and servicing mainly
stude.its with a higher level of achie ement, do not show much differ-
ence in unemployment by achievement level in NCEE. Both the
employed and the unemployed graduates from these institutions have
high scores in NCEE and are a more homogeneous group academically
but even in this group, the high scorers in NCEE have grater chances of
getting employment. (See Table 5.10).

140
151
 The graduates in search of a job

The graduates of University of Philippines, other government

colleges and proprietary institutions who have a public high school
background have greater chances of being unemployed. (For details, see
Tables 5.11 and 3.161. For example, among the University of
Philippines graduates, 50 per cent of the unemployed are those with
public high school background, and the figure for government college
graduates is 75 per cent, and proprietary institutions, 43.4 per cent, i.e.
the sectarian institutions serving students from sectarian high schools
have the majority of the unemployed graduates.
The type of college of the unemployed graduates needs to be
analyzed in relation with the profile of sample respondents, and this can
be done by comparing Table 5.12 with Table 2.1

5.1.5 Assessment of college performance and instruction

The unemployed graduates are quite realistic in the self-assessment of

their college performance, with only 16 per cent ranking themselves
abe-e-average. On the other hand, 33.3 per cent of employed graduates
consider their rating above- average. A greater bulk (81.7. per cent) of
them consider themselves as average students only one person dared to
give his performance and excel...sit rating. (For details, see "zble 5.15).
The majority of the unemployed graduates rated the content and
method of instruction in their schools as adequate. Among the
employed graduates, a higher percentage felt that they had been given
highly and excellent instruction both in terms of content and method.
(See Tables 5.16 and 3.29 and 3.301. Actually, the unemployed gradu-
ates, should have been given more attention especially in terms of
method of instruction, since they were equipped with an academic back-
ground of lesser quality.

5.1.6 Unemployment by type of educational institution

Unemployment among the graduates of University of Philippines and

other the government colleges is much lower than those coming from
private higher education. On the whole, unemployment in public higher
education accounts for only 10.02 per cent while private higher educa-
tion accounts for 28.14 per cent. In the public higher education sector,

141
152
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

University of Philippines shows a lower percentage of unemployment at

6.74 per cent compared to other state colleges and universities at 17.95
per cent. On the other hand, in private higher education, the graduates
from proprietary colleges have the highest rate of unemployment at
29.8 per cent, followed by graduates from Protestant colleges and
universities (28.81 per cent) and Catholic colleges (26.97 per cent). The
lowest rate of unemployment among graduates of private higher educa-
tional institutions is 14.29 per cent from educational institutions of the
foundation type. (See Table 5.13).

5.1.7 Unemployment classified by degree programmes

Unemployment varies by degree programme. It is least among the grad-

uates of teacher education (8.5 per cent), law and foreign service (9.3
per cent) and music and fine arts (12.5 per cc-.:). (For details, see
Table 5.14). On the other hand, way above the average unemployment
of all graduates, is found among the graduates of other liberal arts
courses (46.2 per cent), medical science graduates (29.2 per cent), nutri-
tion and dietetics '(27 per cent), physical and biological sciences (25.4
per cent), agriculture (22.1 per cent), and business administration (21.3
per cent).
The reason why graduates of teacher education rate only a low 8.5
per cent is the increase in del-and, unlike in the 1960s when there was
a big surplus of teachers. It is possible that many music and fine arts
graduates are self-employed and, therefore, not looking for a job. It is
understandable that there are relatively more medical graduates who are
unemployed, since they are probably waiting for the result of board
examinations before engaging fully in practice. Agriculture graduates
may be self-employed on their own farms, although they may still be in
the process of looking for a job. Many of the graduates of physical and
biological sciences are usually waiting for admission to medical schools
because their course is a preparatory degree for the medical
programme. At present, it is quite hard to gain admission into medical
schools. What is disturbing is the high rate of unemployment among
graduates of business administration (22.1 per cent) and other liberal
arts programmes (46.2 per cent). This should be a major focus for
policy makers and a matter of concern for the college-bound popula-
tion.

142 153
 The graduates in search of a job

5.2 Reasons for unemployment

The reasons for higher employment rates by academic programmes are
discussed in the section on occupation and education adjustment in
Chapter 4. In this section, reasons for unemployment as revealed in the
survey can be given. Almost half or 46.3 per cent of unemployed grad-
uates have refused a job offer. If one were to exclude those who refused
a job offer from the group of unemployed. the unemployment rate of
college graduates go down dras ically. The reasons cited for refusing a
job offer are ranked as follows:

Rank

Reasons Total Male Female

I. Did not like the job offer 2.53 2.70 2.46

2. Job offer not in the field

of specialization 2.55 2.34 2.66

3. Low salary offer 2.56 2.33 2.68

4. Job far "-om residence 2.61 2.88 2.51

5. Lack of parental consent

in accepting the job 3.59 4.0 3.47

The fact that the unemployed graduates have refused a job offer
suggests that they are not really in a poor state and thus should not be
the object of much concern by policy- makers. But those who should
receive concern are the unemployed graduates who have not had any
job offer at all in spite of expending much effort in looking for a job.
That there is no job opening for anyone is really not a very signifi-
cant reason for unemployment. There are actually many job openings;
unfortunately, the unemployed graduate wants a job in a specific field
of specialization. (See Table 5.18). He has neither adequate experience
nor the professional requirements. Moreover, some job openings are not
within the graduate's vicinity. These are often cited as reasons for being
unemployed. The reasons which are of less significance are family situ-

143
154
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

ations like getting married, lack of connections in getting a job, low

salary, or the lack of prestige of the college where the graduate finished
his degree. What is even more surprising is the admission by some
unemployed graduates that they were not interested in getting a job.
The most effective methods of getting a job, as revealed by the
experiences of the employed graduates in both HELMS I and II, are
either recommendation of relatives and friends or through the
personnel office of the hiring company. However, very few of the
unemployed graduates followed these two methods in getting employ-
ment (See Table 5.19).

5.3 Unemployment and discriininant analysis

The 'discriminant analysis' technique has been used to analyze unem
ployment. The regression analysis technique to identify the variables
which explain the nature of the waiting period and income behaviour
has been discussed (See Chapters 6 and 7). In regression analysis, the
criterion variable is continuous and ratio-scaled. The objective was to
predict individual earnings and length of waiting period. Variables that
have the highest weights are those that best predict income or length of
waiting period. In the discriminant analysis, the criterion is not a single
continuous variable. It is a set of mutually inclusive categories
(employed or unemployed). The objective is to predict in which
category an individual will fall. Predicted variables with the highest
weights are those that best predict tile category.
In simplistic terms, the procedure operates to locate a sector or
sectors called discriminant iinctions in the total predictor space that
best separate the categories of individuals. The maximum number of
such discriminant functions is limited to the smaller of the number of
variables used as the number of categories on the output variable less
one. Since we are working with two categories of output variables, no
more than one sector will be available. The values separated for each
variable are the weight, the greater is the power of the variable to
predict, independent of the effect of the other variables to which
category an individual will oelong. The standardized discriminant func-
tion coefficients, when the signs are ignored, represent the relative
contribution of its associated variable to that function. The sign merely
d..notes whether the variable is making a positive nor negative contribu-

144
1 155
 The graduates in search of a job

tion. The standardized discriminant function coefficients are designed in

such a way that the discriminant scores produced are in standard form.
This means that in the overall cases in the analysis, the score of one
function will have a mean and a standard deviation of one.
Out of the 1,226 ca.,....s in the sample, 246 are looking for a job.
Table 5.20 gives the standardized discriminant function coefficient for
the analysis of graduates who are still in the job-search stage.
It may be observed that self-assessed college performance is, by far,
the strongest cluster of predictors of unemployment. Note the negative
relationship, which means that the above-average group of graduates
have better chances of getting employment or lesser chances of being
unemployed. Similar effects are noted for the University of Philippines
gladuates but on a lower magnitude. Across curricular
programmes,teacher education reveals a negative relationship. This
means that graduates of teacher education have less chances of being
unemployed. Note that teacher education has the lowest unemployment
r. .c. On the other hand, the medical science graduates have a positive
coefficient, signifying that they have also a stronger probability )f
remaining unemployed. In reality, however, this is not true. The
completion of medical education takes a longer time than other degrees,
and the period of intership does not really constitute employment. Since
the gap between the survey and the time of graduation was short, many
of the medical graduates may not yet have been available to practise
their profession and, thus, might have indicated that they were unem-
ployed.
It is interesting to note that parental income and age have the least
influence on the employment status of the graduates.
From the above analysis, one could infer that in obtaining employ-
ment, the quality of one's education is a far more important predictor.
Note the greater weight of college performance of college performance
and being a graduate of University of Philippines over curricular
programmes and socio-economic variables such as parental income, age,
sex and education of parents.

156 145
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 5 1 Age of the unemployed

2
Age Bracket

20-23

24.27
_
N

129

100
Total

53.1

41.2
% N

33

43
Male

00

40.2

52 4
N
Female

96

57
59 6

35.4
5i,

3. 28-31 8 3.3 5 6I 3 1.9

4. 32-35 4 1.6 1 17 3 1.9

5. 36 and above: 2 8 2 1.2

Total 243 100 0 82 99.; 161 100.0

Table 5.2: Civil status of the unemployed

Total Malt Female

N cry N % N %

1. Single '95 79.3 75 91 5 120 73.2

2. Marrie4 49 19.9 7 85 42 25.6

3. Widowed 8 2 1.2

246 100 0 82 100.3 164 100.0

Mean Age = 23.71

Table 5.3. Sex of the unemployed

_N %
..._
Male 82 33 3

Female 164 bb 7

Total 246 ;00 0

146
157
 Tabl: 5 l: Occupation of the spouse of the unemployeu

Total Male Femalr

% n qi, N %

Professional. Technical
1.
and Related Workers 13 27 7 i 40.0 11 26 2

-) Admmixtrative. Executive
4.3 48
and Managerial Workers 2 2

3. Clerical and Related

Workers 10 21.3 10 23 8

8.5 20 0 3 71
4. Sales Workers 4 1

Service Workers 2 4.3 20.0 1 24

5. 1

6. Agriculture 2 4.3 2 4.8

7. Production. Transportation
lnd Related Workers 8 17.3 8 19.0

2.1 2.4
8. Unclassified 1 1

9. Armed Forces 3 64 3 7.1

10 Housewife or Non-
4.3 20.0 2.4
Woking Husband 2 1 1

Total 47 10(1.0 5 100 0 42 100 0

158
 Table 5.5: Industrial classification of the employer of the spouse of the unemployed

Total Male Female

N % N % N %

Agriculture 1 25 I 29

2. Mining and Ouarrying

3. Manufamring 7 17,5 7 20 0

4. tilectricity. Gas and Water 1 2.5 1 25 0

5. Construction 1 2.5 1 29

Wholesale and Retail 3 7.5 I 25.0 57

7. Transport. Storage and Communi-ation 8 20.0 8 2:..9

8. Finance. Insurance. Real Estate

and Business Service 1 2.5 1 2.9

9. Community. Social and

Personal Services 17 42.5 50.0 15 42.9

10. Undefined 1 25

Total 413 100 0 4 100.0 35 100.0

159
 The graduates in search of a job

Table 5.6: Educational attainment of the parent of the unemployed

Father Mother

N % N %

L Agriculture 1 1.5

2. Business Administration
and Commerce 22 32.8 5 10

3. Engineering and Technology 11 16.4 2 4

4. Food Nutrition and Dietetics

5. Law ald Foreign Service 17 25.4

6. Humanities

7. Physical and Biological

Sciences

8. Social Sciences

9. Medical Sciences 5 7.5 10 20

10. Music and Fine Arts 7 10.4

11. Teacher Training 4 6.0 33 66

12. Other Liberal Arts

Tow! 67 100.0 50 100

1 149
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 5.7: Occupation of the parents of the unemployed

Father Mot her

N f'/i) N %

1. Professional. Technical
and Related Workers 35 19.0 37 15.6

2. Administrative. Executive
and Managerial Wot ken, 29 15.8 8 3.4

3. Clerical and Related

Wol kers 17 9.2 1 0.4

4. Sales Workers 17 9.2 25 10.5

5. Ser% Ire Workers 8 4.3 8 3.4

6. Agricultural Workers 34 18.5 8 3.4

7. Production, Transportation
and Related Workers 33 :7.9 5 2.1

8. Unclassified 2 1.1 1 0.4

9. Armed Forces 9 4.9 1 0.4

l O. Housewife 143 60.3

Total 184 100.0 237 99.9

150
161
 The graduates in search of a job

Table 5.8: Industrial classification of the employer of the parents of the

unemployed

Father Mother

N % N %

1. Agriculture 30 18.8 6 2.6

2. Mining and Quarrying 1 0.5

3. Manufacturing 20 12.5 S 2.4

4. Electricity. Gas and Water 2 1.3

5. Construction 14 8.8

6. 'Vholesale and Retail 17 10.6 25 11.8

7. Transportation. Storage and

Communication 17 10.6 1 0.5

8. Finance, Incurance. Real

Estate and Business Services 12 7.5 5 2.4

9. Community. Social and

Personal Services 46 28.7 167 79.1

10. Unclassified 2 1.2 1 0.5

Total 160 100 211 100

151
162
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 5.9: Monthly income of the parents of the unemployed

Income Bracket

Less than P.500

P.500 - 999

1 000- 1 499
_
Father

48

39
%

5.5

29.5

23.9
-
Mother

33

17
%

9.6

39.8

20.5

1 500 - 1 999 11 6.8 6 7.2

2 000 - 2 999 16 9.8 8 9.6

3 000 and above 40 24.5 11 13.3

Total 163 100 83 100

Mean Income P.2 729.13 P.1 592.76

152
 Table 5.10: NCEE, percentile scot e of unemployed graduates by type of college

UP Gov't Colleges Catholic Protestant Proprietary 1-ou ndat ion

__
1 21 - 30 1.1

-)
2 31 40 19

3 41 - 50 133 89 20 0

4. 51 - 60 20.0 33

5. 61 - 70 6.7 1.9 13.3

6 71 - 80 7.7 12.2

7 81 - 90 15 13 3 25.0 167 31 1

8 91 - 99 98.5 46.7 63 5 83 3 27 8 80.0

Table 5.11: Type of high school of unemployed by type of college (in percentages)

U.P. Gov't. Colleges Catholic Protestant Proprietary Foundation

1. Public School 50 0 75.0 25.0 11.1 43.4

2. Private Sectarian 25.0 8.3 59.4 88 9 35 4

3. Private Non-Sectarian 25.0 16.7 15.6 21.2 100

H
:0

164
 Employment and career oppornudites after graduation

Table 5.12: Type of college of the unemployed

1. Public Sector

1.1 U.P. lq 7.7

1.2 Other State Colleges and

Universities 21 8.6

2. Private Education Sector

2.1 Catholic A8 19.5

2.2 Protestant 17 6.9

2.3 Proprietary 135 54.9

2.4 Foundation 6 2.4

Total 246 100

154 165
 The graduates in search of a jnb

Table 5.13: Rate of unemployment by type of educational institution

Percentage of unemployment
Pla!e Female Total

1 Public High Education 8.02 11.39 10.02

1.1 U.P. 5.43 7.84 6.74

1.2 Other State Colleges

and Universitie 18.18 17.86 17.95

2. Private Higher Education 25 09 29.98 28.14

2.1 Catholic 31.15 24.79 26.97

2.2 Protestant 22.73 32.43 28.81

2.3 Proprietary 24.85 32.75 29.80

2.4 Foundation 13.04 15.79 14.29

3. Total 18 76 23.63 21.75

166 155
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 5 14 Unemployment by degree programme

Rate of
Degree Programme N % Unemployment
1. Agriculture 10 7S 22 1

Business and Commerce 54 22 1 21 3

3. Engineering and Technology 34 13 9 18.9

4. Nutrition and Dietetics 10 4.1 27.0

5 law and Foreign Service 4 I6 9.3

6 Physical and Biological
Sciences 17 70 25 4

7 Social Science 23 9.4 18.5

8. Medical Sciences 63 25.8 29.2

9. Music and Fin Arts 3 1.2 12.5

10. Teacher Education 11 4.5 8.5

11. Other Liberal Arts Programme 6 2.5 462

244 99.9 19 6

Note. 171 or 78.8% of the unemployed finished the course they wanted which
is less than the employed graduates

Below Aeiage (75 - 79)

Average 180 - 85)

Above Average (86 - 94)

o:

179

65
4
%

18

81 7

16 0
--
Table 5.15: Assessment of college performance

Male

62
N

7
%

5.4

83 8

05
N
Female

117

28
%

80.7

10 3

Excellent 195 an ?hove) 1 0.5 1 1.4

Total 249 100 74 100 145 100

156
167
 The graduates in search of a job

Table 5.16: Assessment of instruction

Conte: t of
Instuctiem Male Female

N q, N % N %
177 7 1,4
Inadequate "7-3 113

Bard) Adequate 12 55 8 10 8 4 2.8

135 61 6 62.2 89 61.4

Adequate

Very Adequate 56 25.6 17 23 0 39 26.9

12 5.5 1.4 11 7.6

Excellent 1

219 100 0 74 100 0 145 100.0

Total

Method of
Instruction Male Female

N % N % N %

4 1.8 3 4.1 1 .7
Inadequate

18 82 9 12.2 9 6.2
Barely Adequate

126 57.-s 45 60.8 81 55.9

Adequate

56 25.6 15 20.3 41 28.3

Very Adequate

15 6.8 1 2.7 13 9.0

Excellent
219 99.9 74 100.0 145 100.0
Total

Table 5.17: Vocational training of graduates

N %

Employed 312 34.7

Unemployed 55 25.1

168 157
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 5.18: Reasons for being unemployed

Rank by
Rank Male Female

1. No job opening in the

fielu of specialization 3 53 2..7 3.86

2 Inadequate experience 3 64 3 74 3 60

3. Lack of pi ofessional
eligibility requirements 3.76 3 39 3.92

4 No job opening within the

vicinity of the residence 4.02 3.84 4.10

5. Family situation 4 38 6.19 3.88

6. !"o connections 4.42 3.94 4.6]

7. Low starting pay 5.06 4.79 5.20

8. No job opening for anyone 5 26 5.25 5.26

9. No interest in getting a joo 6.78 6.20 7.03

10. College not prestigeouc 7.45 6.41 7.88

Table 5.19: Means of looking for job

Male Female Total

1. Newspaper adsertisement
-lb
N
- -
c'i,

30.6
N

33
-- -
%

31.4
N

49
%

31.2

2 Personal Application 27 51.9 48 45 7 75 47.8

3. Friends and Relatives 5 9.6 13 12.4 18 11.4

4 Employment Agencies 2 1.9 2 1.3

5 Recommendation 1 1.9 1 10 2 1.3

6. Mailed Application 3 58 8 76 11 70

Total 52 100 0 105 100.0 157 100.0

158
169
 The graduates in search of a job

Table 5.20: Graduates looking for a job, standa-lzed discriminant

function coefficient

Discriminant Weight

1. Medical Science 0.30714

2. Physical and Biological Sciences 0.19136

3. Other Liberal Art Courses 0.17487

4. Food. Nutrition and Dietetics 0.16104

5. Sex: Female 0.15059

t, Social Science 0.11929

7. Engineering and Technology 0.10598

8. Mother's Education: College 0.10887

9. Parent's Income -0.06819

".). Age -0.09435

11. NCEE Score -0.1817

12. Teacher Education -0.2655

13. U.P. -0.37072

14. Self-Assessed College Performance:

Below Average -0.45210

IS. Self-Assessed 7.ollege Performance:

Excellent -0.56457

16. Self-Assessed College Performance:

Average -1.86942

17. Self-Assessed CollegePerformance:

Above-Average -2 0192

159

170
6. The college dropouts and the
`tortoises'

An analysis of the problems presented by a country's college -opouts is

quite important. The existence of dropouts is not only det.unental to
the students concerned but also represents a wastage of resources for
society. Efforts to minimize dropouts are, therefore, laudable inasmuch
as disappointment or frustration may be avoided and utilization of
resources maximized.
The study of the phenomenc.s of prolongation is of equal signifi-
cance. To some extent, this phenomenon involves some wastage of
resources in the sense that students have to spend more time and
money and the educational system allocates more resources than strictly
necessary for students who do not finish on time. The students in this
category are possibly slow learners; thus, the term 'tortoise' is applied to
this group in the succeeding analysis.
Before one can express any concrete views about college dropouts
and 'tortoises', one should know the explanatory variables behind the
phenomena. An understand' sg of the nuances of the various problems
is necessary, involving an -th.pth analysis of the reasons and events
that brought about the Or phenomenon, including the student.: socio-
economic background. With such an insight and thorough under-
standing, one may provide feedback to the educational system and to
the parents, whi:h could form the basis for the formulation of policies
and the adoption of remedial actions to minimize delays in graduation
and reduce college dropo,:zs. In this manner, unnecessary wastage in
scarce resources will be kept to a minimum.

160
171
 The college dropouts and the 'tortoises'

The analysis of college dropouts and 'tortoises' is based on the data

of students contained in the files of the 1977-1978 survey who were also
respondents of the follow-up interview in 1981, i.e. it was discovered in
the follow-up survey that some students who, normally should have
been in the graduating class of 1978-1979, were still studying when the
1981 survey was conducted. There were 41 such students. Those who
dropped out of college, numbered 56. The following analysis is an
account of these people.

6.1 Characteristics of college drop-outs and 'tortoises'

6.1.1 Age, sex a .:1 status

The 'tortoises' with a mean age of 23.05 years old are relatively younger
than those who graduated an.... found a job (24.3 years old). Perhaps
being young, they are not in a hurry to finish college. The college drop-
outs on the other hand, are of the same age group as the employed
graduates.
Just as there are more females in the total sample, there are like-
wise more females among the dropouts. But this is not the case with
the tortoises'. Most of the 'tortoises' (60.97 per cent) are males, but
the major curricular programme of the 'tortoises' is engineering and
technology which is a predominantly male-dominated course.
As to marital status, a greater percentage (28.5 per cent) of college
dropouts compared to employed graduates (15.6 per cent) are married.
and this is pc:sibly a contributory factor to dropping out. As to the
'tortoises' a very small percentage (4.9 per cent) of them are married
(as stated earlier, the 'tortoises' are of a younger age group).
The data on income of the spouses of college dropouts and
'tortoises' show a mean income of P.1,370.15 a month which is much
lower t' an the mean income of the spouses of employed graduates
(P.1,7" .39). i.e. such student's need to seek work while studying.

172 161
 En.ployment and career opportunitteA after graduation

6.1.2 Parental background of college dropouts and 'tortoises'

6.1.2.1 College dropouts.

Fathers of college dropouts having a business administration education

account for 25 per cent; law and foreign service, 25 ner cent; teacher
education, 16.7 per cent; and music and fine arts, 16.7 per cent. Those
with a lower than college education account for only 21.43 per cent
compared to 33.83 per cent for the fathers of employed graduates. The
number of fathers of 'tortoises' who have less than a college education
is much higher: 42.19 per cent. These data are quite unusual, implying
that parents with a higher academic qualification have children who are
more likely to drop out of college.
The predominant collegiate background of mothers is teacher
education (50 per cent). Those with less than a college background
account for only 10.53 per cent. The percentage of the mothers of
employed gradurtes with less than a college education is much higher at
28.28 per cent, and the corresponding data for the 'tortoises' i... 37.12
per cent. The percentage of fathers of col!ege dropouts who are profes-
sional, technical and related workers is 20 per cent; those from agricul-
ture comprise 20 per cent; production, transportation and related
workers, 17.5 per cent. A lower percentage is accounted for Ly those in
sales and a much lower percentage occupy managerial, executive and
administrative positions. There is a predominance of non-working
housewives at 64 per cent; the corresponding percentage for the
mothers of employed graduates is 58.50 per cent and for mothers of the
`tortoises', 63.4 per cent. Again, this is unusual, for a non-working
housewife should be able to assist in the studies of her children and,
thus, minimize the likelihood of dropouts. This implies that non-
working housewives have less influence on the academic work of their
children; possibly due to the inadequacy of their educational attainment.
(St Table 3.81.
Agriculture is a major i idustrial classification of both the fathers of
college dropouts (27.3 per cent) and 'tortoises', (32.3 per cent) followed
by community, soda! and personal services at 24.2 per cent and manu-
facturing at 21.2 per cent. On the other hand, agriculture as a sector of
employment for fathers of employed graduates is not as prominent
(16.9 per cent). Another industrial classification of fathers of college

162
173
 The college dropouts and the 'tortoises'

dropouts which is distinctly different is manufacturing which ranked

high at 21.2 per cent compared to fathers of employed graduates at only
9.7 per cent.
Most (73.9 per cent) of the mothers of college dropouts who work
(36 per cent) are employed in the cc mmunity, social and personal
services sector.
The income of the parents of college dropouts is much lower than
that of the parents of employed graduates. The monthly mean income
of the father and mother of college dropouts is P.938.40 and P.586.66,
respectively; the corresponding figures for the fathers and mothers of
employed graduates are P.3,187.77 and P.1,876.76.

6.1.2.2 'Tortoises'.

The parental background of the 'tortoises' is analyzed in terms of

educational attainment, occupation and industrial classification, and
income. The father's education are mainly in law and foreign service
(36.4 per cent), t.isiness administration (18.2 pe.- cent), engineering and
technology (18.2 per cent), medical science (9.1 per cent) and teacher
education (9.1 per cent). This educational background is similar to that
of the fathers of employed graduates, and differs only in degree: 27.0
per cent have an educational background in law and foreign service,
22.2 per cent in business administration and 23.5 per cent in engi-
neerii g and technol *gy.
On the mother's side, educational attainment was in the fields of
business administration 66.7 per cent teacher education 22.2 per cent
and law and foreign service 11.1 per cent. This could be compared with
that of the employed graduates whose mothers were educated in busi-
ness administration 11.4 per cent, and teacher education 59.6 per cent.
Not all the parents of the 'tortoises' have gone to college, some
attaint only elementary education for the father (29.6 per cent) and
the mother (36.67 per cent), while similar proportion reached high
school. A bigger percentage of the fathers went to college (40.74 per
cent) compared to only 30 per cent among the mothers.
As to occupant the fathers of the 'tortoises' are mainly agr icul-
.

tural workers (26.5 per cent), followed by professional, technical (17.6

per cent), managerial, administrative and executive (14.7 per cent) and
sales (11.8 per cent). Among the fathers of employed graduates, 27,6

163
174
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

per cent% are in professional. technical and related jobs, 16.4 per cent
in managerial. admiuistiative and executive positions: 14.2 per cent-- in
agriculture and 12.1 per cent in sales.
As stated in the occupational analysis, the predominantly industrial
classification of the father of 'tortoises' is agriculture (32.3 pet cent) but
this is followed by community. social and personal services (25.8 per
cent), and finance, insurance, real estate and business services (12.9 per
cent). Note that agriculture ranked only second for the father of
employed graduates.
Like the dropouts, the industrial classification for employers of
mothers is predominantly community, social and personal services (72.5
per cent). For the employed graduates. it is even higher at 82.0 per
cent.
Fathers of 'tortoises' fall mainly in the income range. of P.500-999
(38.7%), followed by P.3,000 and above (29%) and P.1,000-1,999
(19.4%). This distribution is on the whole lower than th. of the
fathers of employed graduates, with 28.1% on income bracket
P.1,000-1,499 at 15.6%.

6.1.3 Educational background of college dropouts

Rates of dropouts in the ratio of educational programme range from as

high as 12.5% in other liberal arts courses to as low as 1.35% in the
medical sciences. (Fer details, see Table 6.1). By type of college, the
rate of dropout is much higher in the state education sector, especially
in agricultural college (22.22%) and arts and trade schools (11.43%).
However, the dropout rate in the University of Philippines is unusually
low at 0.29. (For details, see Table 6.2) In the private education sector.
the dropout rates are not very alarming: the highest being 7.05% for
Protestant colleges. The data strongly suggest the likelihood that a
highly selective admission policy leads to a lower dropout rate.

6.1.4 Educational background of the 'tortoises'

The highest percentage of the 'tortoises' come from proprietary colleges

(61%). followed by Catholic educational institutions (22%),the
Universit) of the Philippines and Protestant Colleges at 7.3% each. For

164

175
 The college dropouts and she 'ionoises'

the employed graduates, the ranking in terms of distribution shows the

University of Philippines with 29.7%, private proprietary educational
institutions with 35.9%, and the Catholic institutions 14.7%. The main
reason for this is that the bulk of students in private colleges are
working and are taking a reduced study load. The situation, therefore,
does not present a serious problem, since this is still within the norm.
(For details, see Table 6.3)
`Tortoises' are mainly concentrated in the areas of engineering and
technology (37.5%), followed by business administration (15%) etc.
The distribution by area of specialization is quite different from that of
the employed graduates where business administration is the predomi-
nant field at 21.1%, followed by medical sciences 17.1%, engineering
and technology 15.4% and social sciences 10.9%. (For details, see Table
6.4)
As to male-female distribution, one may notice that the male
`tortoises' are in male dominated courses, i.e. engineering and tech-
nology (54.2%), followed by social sciences (16.7%) etc. For the
females, it is medical science (31.3%), followed by business administra-
tion (25%) and engineering and technology (12.570) etc.
l is quite understandable for a student to be a 'tortoise' in such
fields of specialization as medical sciences and engineering and tech-
nology. Laboratory subjects in su^1- fields of speciaiization tend to
delay academic progress.

6.2 Employment status and income of college dropouts

Being a college dropout can adversely affect job possibilities. It is not
surprising, therefore, that only 49% of them are employed, and are
earning much less than the employed graduates. The main income of
employed college dropouts amounts to P.764.0 compared to P.1,096.67
for the employed graduate.
The waiting period (commencing from the timc when actively
looking for work), for employed dropouts is longer at 6.5 months
compared to the employed graduates' 1.9 months. The data on employ-
ment, income and waiting period of employed college dropouts suggest
that it pays to exert a lot of effort in order to finish a degree.

165
176
 Entplo,vment and career opportunities after padueition

6.3 Reasons from dropping-out

In Chapter 5, the factors that contribute to unemployment and the rela-
tive weight of each factor were analyzed, using a discriminant analysis.
Likewise, in this section, such an analysis was made to identify the vari-
ables that lead to dropping out.
As shown in Table 6.5,, variables may have a positive or negative
relationship, i.e. a direct or inverse relationship. Of all the variables,
self-assessed college performance has the highest negative weight,i.e.
average and above-average students have a lesser tendency to become
college dropouts. The other variable that has a high discriminant
weight is the curricular programmes such as teacher education, engi-
neering and technology, business administration and medical sciences.
Note the nositive relationships which implies that students enrolled in
these courses have far greater tendencies to drop out. Being a student
of the University of Philippines has an inverse relationship, meaning
that University of Philippines students have the least likelihood of
dropping-out.
When the respondents were asked their reasons for dropping-out,
three dominant factors were mentioned, viz. financial difficulty, full-
time employment while in a school and poor health. Considering that
the college dropouts belong to lower-income families compared to the
employed and unemployed graduates, these reasons are understandable.
Marriage, part-time work, lack of interest in studying and college envi-
ronment are also cited as reasons for dropping out, although they are
less important.
These are the predominant reasons for both male and female
students. For male students, marriage is a critical factor contributing to
dropping-out, for they have to provide the means of supporting a wife.
On the other hand, it is part-time work rather than marriage which
encourages a female student to drop-out.

1 1.'4 t't

166
I
1 il
 The college dropouts and the 'tortoises'

6.4 Reasons for being a 'tortoise'

Respondents were asked to rank the reasons why they had prolonged
their studies. The empirical data revealed that financial reasons ranked
the highest, followed by academic factors, employment status of the
students and study inter ruption. Marriage ranked the lowest. For
instance, marriage ranked 5.55, way below the academic factors at 2.26.
(For details, see Table 6.7). For female students, full-time jobs and
study interruptions are far more important reasons than financial and
academic. However, just as in the case of the male students, marriage is
not considered a serious factor in prolonging studies.
The fact that the highest concentrations of these students are found
in the fields of medical sciences and engineering and technology rein-
forces the conclusion that financial and academic factors are the most
important reasons for prolonging studies.
From the foregoing discussions, several variables have been identi-
fied to account for prolongation. A discriminant analysis was carried
out to reveal, as shown ...n Table 6.6, that the following are the four
major factors (arranged in order of importance) which constitute
common denominators of all 'tortoises': enrolment in a private proprie-
tary; or a Protestant college; the choice of engineering as a field of
specialization and the completion of college education by the father.
As started earlier, students in private proprietary and Protestant
colleges are more susceptible to prolong studies, because most of them
are working students. Likewise, students in engineering tend to prolong
their studies, since the pursuit this field of specialization requires
substantial laboratory and academic preparation. What is difficult to
explain, however, is how the college education background of fathers
could be a contributory factorit might be that such parents wish to
see their children finish their degree even though they may not be
academically gifted and motivated. There are some variables that have
negative discriminant weights, implying that these are contributory
factors to finishing the course being pursued within a specified period.
For example, fields of studies like law, physical and biological sciences,
social sciences, humanities and other liberal arts courses. will most likely
be finished on time.

167
178
 Employment and catier opportunitto after graduation

Table 6.1: Degree programme of college dropouts

Rate of
dropouts

% %
1. Agriculture 7.3 4.39
2. Business Administration and
Commerce 29.1 6.15
3. Engineering and Technology 14.5 4.18
4. Nutrition and Dietetics 1.8 2.63
5. Law and Foreigr Service 3.6 4.35
6. Physical and Biological
Sciences 7.3 3.42
7. Other Social Sciences 9.1 3.25
8. Medics) Sciences 5.5 1.35
9. Music and Fine Arts 1.8 3.85
10. Teacher Education 16.4 6.72
11. Other Liberal Arts Courses 3.6 12.3

Total 100.0

Those who dropped out are all with honours.

NCEE Mean 76.30

SD 18 35

168
179
 The college dropouts and the 'tortoises'

Tat* 62 College type of di °pouts

Rate of
dropouts
cc, cc

1. Puhlic Sector

I 1 UP I :i 0 29

1.2 °the' State Colleges 0

13 leacher Training 18 1 49

14 Agi icuitural Colleges 70 :2.2'

15 Arts and Trade Schook 70 11.43

2 Private Education Sector

21 Catholic 15 8 4.29

12 Protestant 18 1.52

23 Proprietar> 63 2 7 05

24 Foundation 1.8 2.22

Total 100 0 4.39

Table 6.3: College type of students on prolonged studies

1 Public Sector % Male °b Female %

1 1 1.: P 7.3 80 6.3

12 Other State Colleges 2 4 6.3

2 Private Educattor Sector

21 Catholic 22 0 24 0 18 8

2'_ Prostestant 73 12 0

23 Proprietor!. 61 0 5611 68 S

'_4 Foundation

Total 100.0 100 0 100.0

180 169
 Employment and career opportunities after grad,ation

Table 6.4: Degree prog:ammes of students on prolonged studies

% Male % Female %
1. Agriculture 5.0 4.2 6.3

2. Business Administration
and Commerce 15.0 8.3 25.0

3. Engineering and
Technology 37.5 54.2 12.5

4. Nutrition

5. Law and Foreign

Service 2.5 4.2

6. Physical and Biological

Sciences 5.0 8.3

7. Social Sciences 12.5 16.7 6.3

8. Medical Sciences 12.5 31.3

9. Music and Fine Arts 5.0 4.2 6.3

10. Teacher Education 2.5 6.3

Other Liberal Arts

Courses 2.5 6.3

Total 1(10.0 100.d 100.0

170 181
 The college dropouts and the 'trutotses'

Table 6.5: The college dropout standardized discriminant function

coefficient

Discriminant Weight

1 Teacher Education 0.33747

2. Engineering and Technology 0.22186

3. Business Administration an,:

Commerce 0.19880

4. Medical Sciences 0.15782

5. Age 0.10870

6. Food and Nutrition 0.08463

7. Liberal Arts 0.06210

8. Self-Assessed College Performance:

Below Average -0.07893

9. Humanities -0.08015

10. U.P. -011802

11. Law and Foreign Service -0.12296

12. self-Assessed College Performance:

Excellent -0.16016

13. NCEE -0.16844

14. Self-Assessed Coliege Performance:

Above Average -0.56746

15. Self-Assessed College Performance:

Average -0.677114

171
182
 Entpinyment and career opportunturs after graduation

Table 6.6: The 'Tortoises' standardized disciminant function coeffic. nt

Discrimant Weight

1. Proprietary Institutions (1.12541

2. Protestant Institutions 0.07905

3. Engineering anti lechnolog} .07599

4. Father's education college -0.6742

5. Foundation-type institution 0.04894

6. Law and foreign service -0.12592

7. NCEE score -0.1414

8. Other Liberal An courses 0.15151

9. Physical and Biological Science -0.17459

10. Self-assessed college performance: Excellent -0.18620

11. Social Sciences -.21935

12. Humanities -0.24758

13. Self-assessed college performance: Above

Average -0.58287

14. Self-assessed college performance: Average - 076715

172 183
 The college dropotas and the lortozses'

Table 6.7: Reasons for prolonging studies

Rank Male Female

1. Financial 226 2.0 2.64

2. Academic Reason 2.50 2 26 2.91

3. Due to Full-time Job 3.08 3.58 2.22

4. Due to Study Interruption 3.10 3.28 2.82

5. Due to Part-time Job 3.24 3.33 3.0

6. Marriage 5.55 5.58 5.50

171
184
7. Expectations versus achievements

7.1 Introduction
The gap bet- -.en expectations and achievements of graduates on leaving
college creak_ a form of disequilibrium. Knowledge regarding this
phenomenon could direct educational planners to formulating curricular
programmes that satisfy both the needs of individuals and the demand
of society for more relevant educational programer .....
With the above-mentioned concern in mind, data on expectations
were gathered by asking students to articulate their expectations, and an
attempt male to approximate achievement by documenting the experi-
ences of graduates as they moved from the education .ector to the
world of work. The HELMS survey of 1978 asked students to define
their expectations with respect to the outcome of the course they were
pursuing. Likewise, graduates were asked to reveal their experiences in
trying to get a job, adjustments made in the work situations, the forces
in operation that affect income and occupational mobility and their
economic and social status at the time of the survey. The variables
identified to form the basis for comparison, were employment. occupa-
tion, income, waiting period and rates of return to college education. It
was our hypothesis that graduates orcollegiate programmes could easily
obtain emplo,,ment .- their fields of specialization, at the expected
income, after a sho t waiting period and at a certain expected rate of
return to college education. The following analysis will test tigis.

174
1.85
 Expectations versus achievements

7.2 Expectations and achievements in HELMS I (1978)

Based on the data gathered in HELMS 1, a study (Psacharopoulos and
Sanyal: 1980) was made of expectations as perceived by the students and
reality as experienced by the graduates. The conclusions of the study
were as follows:

(a) Students have very realistic perceptions of income expectation

upon graduation. The expected initial mean earnings of P.678 a
month matched the actual earnings of graduates at the start of
their career at P.666 a month.

(b) Students' assessment of foregone income amounted to P.498 a

month. This correspond &. vei y well with the actual mean income
of working students at P.452. The actual income of graduates age
24 and below, ranging between P.349 and P.525, reinforces the
realism of students' assessment of foregone income.

(c) The expected average waiting period was 4 months, while the
actril experience of graduates was a 6.3-month waiting period.

(d) The expected private rate of return to college education was 5.2
per cent, including direct cost. Based on the actual income of grad-
uates, the rate of return to college education ranged from 4.8 per
cent to 16.6 per cent, as shown below, depending on the assump-
tion used.

Assumption.: Rate of return

(i) Initial earnings (actual graduate

earnings P.666 a month, foregone
income of P.498 based on student
assessment and direct cost = P.200 4.8 per cent

(ii) Initial Earnings - P.666,

foregone income of P.349 which
were the earnings of those
aged 19 or below and direct
cost z: P.200 11.5 per cent

175
186
 Employmeni and career opportuntites after gradaxior

(iii) Initial earnings of P.806,

which were the actual earnings
of graduates, foregone income
of P.349 and direct cost =
P.200 16.5 per cent

7.3 Expectatior;s and achievements in HELMS 11 (1981)

Note that in HELMS I, the perception of achievement and expectations
is that of the graduates and the students, respectively. In HE1 MS II, the
sme set of students were again surveyed in 1981. By then, they had
finished college and were already in the L'bour market. In short, expec-
tations were perceived as articulated when they were students during
the 1978 survey and achievement as they experienced it after graduating
up to the time of the HELMS II survey in 1981.

7.3.1 Employment and iacome

The exr-,station is that when . student graduates, he will take a job

commensurate with his field of specialization. The discussions on educa-
tional and occupational flexibilty, however, have shown that 46 95 ter
cent of the graduates of liberal arts and applied sciences have indeed
been employed in their field of specialization, but the rest of the gradu-
ates were employed in jobs requiring training in business administration,
teacher education, etc. To the extent, that those graduates not
employed in their field of specialization are happy on the job and the
respective employers are equally satisfied with the job performance of
the graduates, such a situation does not pose a problem. Should it be
mile) wise, then remedial measures have to be instituted. The income
expectations of students showed some variations. Students in 1978, who
were employed graduates in 1981, had the highest income expectation at
P.645 month. This was followed by the unemployed graduates at
P.639 month, and the group thlt had the lowest income expectation
was composed of the students who dropped out, the bulk of whom
remained unemployed in 1981. With respect to income. the students
were able to milize their expectations. The average income when the
studers finished the course and secured employment in 1979 was

176

187
 EApectations mrsus achievements

P.79532, much higher than income expectation P.647.00 and in 1980,

their income had gone up further to P.1,184.72. If one takes into
account the younger age of the respondents in the 1981 survey and the
real increase in income at 2.28 per cent a year, it is clear that there have
been some significant improvements in the income levels of graduates
compared to the 1978 HELMS I survey.

7.3.2 Expected and actual income classified by curricular

programmes

Income expectations of students vary by curricular programme.

Students in programmes whose graduates have high income indicated
high income expectations vis-à-vis students in programmes with low
income graduates. As sh..swn by income c;ata in Table 7.1, students in
teacher education and agriculture have the lowest income -xpectation at
P.459 and P.584 a month respectively. The actual income of teacher
education graduates as shown by the experience of the graduates in
HELMS I was the lowest at P.495 and in HELMS 11 P.733.20. Though
the lowest, it is still within the income expectation level of students in
teacher education.
On the other hand, students of law and foreign service have the
highest inc me expectation at P.1,404 a month, and gradu^zs of this
discipline the highest income at P.I,098.in HELMS I and P.1,861.24 in
HELMS II (For details of the other curricular programmes, see Table
7.1).
Income expectation is related to the expected sector of employ-
ment. As much as 44.9 per cent expected to be employed in the public
sector of employment at an expected income of P.575 a month which is
much lower than the expected income of P.686 a month of those
hoping for employment in the private sector. Actual income was much
higher than the expected income. In the public sector, actual income
amounted to P.869, while in the private sector it amounted to P.807 a
month.
Children of those occupying administrative, executive and profes-
sional jobs tend to expect a much higher income but their actual income
usually turns ou to be even higher than expected.
The mean income of employed graduates has been increasing over
time. In HELMS 1, mean income of graduates amounted to P.715.12 a

177
188
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

month and this increased to P.1,096.67 in 1981 HELMS II. At constant

prices, the real growth in income of employed graduates was estimated
at 2.28 per cent, which is a little higher than the real growth of per
capita income of the Philippines at 2.1 per cent in 1981. Employed
graduates, therefore, are better situated in terms of income than the
average Filipino wor: er., At current prices in 1981, the average per
capita income a year of Filipinos amounted to P.5,037 which was much
lower than the income of employed graduates which amounted, to
P.13,160.64 per annum in 1981.

7.3.3 Waiting period

With regard to the waiting period, students' expectation on the average

was 4 months. HELMS H mealed that the actual waiting period was 2
months, far shorter than expected. In HELMS I, 86 per cent of the
students hoped that they would secure a job in six months and 96 per
ce at in a year. In HELMS 11, 70.6 per cent were employed in six
months after graduation and 91.1 per cent after a year. If one defines
the waiting period as starting from the time of active search for a job,
92.7 per cent obtained .t job in six months and 98.6% in one year (For
details, see Table 7.2).
Expected waiting time varies with the level of self assessment of
college performance. Those who consider themselves as having excellent
and above-average college performance expected to waft for 3 1/2
months, those with an average performance, 4.2 months and those with
bel;tv average performance, 4.9 months. Actual waiting time turned
out to be much shorter than expected for the above-average and excel-
lent graduates with actual waiting period of 2.5 months and 4.7 months
respectively. The average and below average waited longer than
expected with the average graduates experiencing 6.8 months of actual
waiting period and the below average, 9.8 months. Those who waited
longer accepted lower pay.
In HELMS 1, the average waiting period was 6.3 months compared
to only two months in HELMS 11. This reveals the improvement in the
labour marPet for college graduates in 1981.

178
1.89
 Expectations versus achievements

7.3.4 Private rate of return to college education

HELMS II used the formula of Pscharopoulos and Sanyal" in

computing returns to college education, i.e.,

r= Yo - Yfor
5(Yfor + C)

Yo is the initial income, Yfor is the foregone income, C is the private

direct cost and 5 is the assumed length of college studies. In the
present study on the expected rates of return, private direct cost per
month was assumed to be P.500, instead of P.200 as in the earlier esti-
mate of Psacharopoulos and Sanyal. Expected income and foregone
income were taken from the responses of the students.
The expected rates of return range from a negative 0.78 per cent
for graduates in teacher education to a high of 18.15 per cent in law
and foreign service (For details, see Table 7.3), From the data on
expected rates of return, one may infer that the least ambitious of all
students (in that they were not so concerned with maximizing return on
investment) are those in teacher education, while lawyers are the most
ambitious. How they fare in the labour market is also shown in the
Table.
The computation of actual rates of return was based on the income
of graduates in 1981 using a self-assessed foregone income at P.498 and
another using the average income of working students from 1976 to
1978 as the basis of foregone income at P.746.58.
The lowest rates of return (4.57 per cent) are on the basis of fore-
gone income of P.746.58 and direct cost of P.750 a month (For details,
see Table 7.4). The highest rate of return (12 per cent) is on the basis
of the self-assessed foregone income at P.418 and direct cost of P.500 a
month.
Private rates of return vary by type of college. Consistent with the
previous study, University of Philippines graduates exhibit the highest
private rate of return rar,f_ring from a low of 10.89 to a h:gh of 21.33
pr cent (For details, st . Table 7.5). The graduates of other state

II Psacharopoulos, George and Bikas Sanyal, Student Expectations and Labour

Market Performance: The Case of the Philippines. Higher Education,
Voll 0, (1981). Elsevier. Amsterdam

179

190
 Employment and career opportunities after gtaduatton

colleges and universities exhibit the lowest rates of return with a range
of negative 1.21 per cent to 3.77 per ceht. The second highest in terms
of rates of return are the graduates from Catholic colleges and universi-
ties with a range of 3.65 per cent to 10.47 per cent followed by
foundation-type institutions at 3.22 per cer to 9.82 per cent.
Private rates of return vary also in terms of academic programmes.
The graduates of teacher education have the lowest, with a range of
negative 0.18 per cent to 4.71 per cent. At the other extreme, the
highest is law and foreign service from 14.9 per cent to 27.32 per cent,
followed by graduates of other liberal arts courses at 11.42 per cent to
22.10 per cent, engineering and technology 8.37 per cent to 17.54 per
cent, etc. (For details, see Table 7.6).
Comparing expected rates of return as shown with the actual rates
of return in Table 7.3, with the actual rates of return in Table 7.6, one
may conclude that graduates have realized their expectations. Graduates
with the least expectation have likewise the lowest rate of return and
those with the highest expectation have the highest actual rates of
return.
The actual rates of return are comparable with previous studies,
viz.: the Ranis Mission in its report entitled Sharing in Development'2
estimated the rate of return to higher education at 9 per cent,
Psacharopoulos and Sanyal," at 4.8% to 16.6 per cent and earlier study
of Arcelo,'° (1979) estimated private rates of return from 4.03 per cent
to 9.9 per cent.

12 international Labour Organization. Sharing in Development: A Programme of

Employment, Equity and Growth for the Philippines. Geneva. 1974.

13 Psacharopoulos ....., and Sanyal B., op.cit.

14 Arcelo. Adriano, 'Private a i Social Rates of Return in Higher Education,

FAPE REVIEW, July-October, 1979.

180
191
 Expectations versus achievements

7.4 Conclusions
On the whole, the findings in HELMS Ii reaffirmed the conclusions
arrived at in HELMS 1. More specifically, these are:

(a) The students' expectations with respect to income, employment,

waiting period and returns to education were impressively realistic.
Their experiences in the labour market also confirmed expecta-
tions. This realism is indicative of the merit and effectiveness of an
informal, word-of-mouth communication network.

(b) The fact that the waiting period is much shorter (only two months
in HELMS 11 compared to 6.3 months in HELMS I 1978 survey),
that income and the return to education are higher show that there
ha:e been some improvements in the labour market situation for
college gi aduates.

(c) The empirical data do not lend support to the much talked about
problem of the educated unemployed and the frustration of gradu-
ates. If graduates are the source of social discontent, it is not
because of the economic variab!es discussed here, viz. employ-
ment, income and other related variables. The reasons must lie
outside this domain.

181
192
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 7.1: Expected and actual income

Expected Actual Income

Income HELMS I HELMS 11
1. Agriculture P.584 P.636 P.884.49

2. Business Administra-
tion and Commerce 603 579 1 076.09
3. Engineering and
Technology 827 912 1 373.15
4. Food, Nutrition and
Dietetics 547 499 1 192.17

5. Law and Foreign

Service 1 404 1 098 1 861.24

6. Liumanities 528 584 1 160.43

7. Physical and Biological

Sciences 856 637 1156.40
8. Social Sciences 669 771 1 225.03

9. Medical Sciences 687 500 928.61

10. Music and Fine Arts 744 662 1 222.50

11. Teacher Education 459 495 733.20

12. Other Liberal Arts

Programmes 699 580 1 601.00

182
193
 Expectations versus achievements

Table 7.2: Expected and actual waiting period

Expected Among Actual Waiting

Period Period

HELMS I HUMS II
"e 0,

1 hree months or less 51 63 6 72 6

3 - et month. 35 223 201

7 - 12 moron, 10 44 59
Cher 1 year 4 97 14

100 100 0 100.0

Table 7.3. Rates of return

Expected Rates
of return Actual rates of return

HELMS I HELMS II

1. Periculture I.-2 5 17 1 85 - 7.75%

2 Business Administr-
ation and Commerce , i. 4 19 4 4 - 11.59

3 Engineering and
Technology 659 10 22 6 57 - 17.54

4 Food Nutrition
and Dietetics 1 02 27; 5.95 - 13.91

5. Law and Foreign

Service 18 15 13 64 14 9. 27.32

6 Humanities 06 4.28 5.53 - 13 28

7. Physical and Biological

Sciences 7.17 5.25 5 42 - 13 19

8. Social Sciences 3.43 7.69 6.39- 14.57

9. Medical Sciences 3 79 2 75 2 45 - 8 62

10 Music and Fine Arts 4 93 5.7 6.36 - 14 52

11 Teacher Education (0 78) 261 10 lb- 471

12 Other Liberal Arts

Ccarces 4.03 4.21 11 42 - 22.10

183
194
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 7.4: Computation of rates of return HELMS II

Rates of Return

Case I

Initial Income - P.1 096 67

Foregone Income of P.498 based on

Student own assessment

Direct Cost of P.500 a month 12

Direct Cost of P.750 a month 9.59

Case 2
Initial Income - P.1 096.67

Foregone of P.746.58 which was

the average income of working
students in 1978

Direct cost of P.50(1 a month 5.61

Direct cost of P.750 a month--- 4.67

184
 Expectations versus achievements

Tab!" 7.5: Rates of return by type of college

Rates of return at
foregone income assumption of

Graduates of P.498 a month P.746.58 a month

1. U.P. System
Direct Cost at P.500
a month 21.33 13.09

Direct r.'ost at P.750

a month 17.05 10.89

2. Other State Colleges

and Universities
Direct Cost at P.500
a month 3.77 (1.45)

Direct Cost at P.750

a month 3.01 (1.21)

3. Catholic
Direct Cost at P.500
a month 10.47 4.39

Direct Cost at P.750

a month 8.37 3.65

4. Protestant

Direct Cost at P.500

a month 6.09 C 89

Direct Cost a: P.750

a month 4.87 0.74

5. Proprietary

Direct Cost at P.500

a month 8 63 2.92

Direct Cost at P.750

a month 6.9 2.44

6. Foundation
Ditect Cost at P.500
a month 9.82 3.86

Direct Cost at P.750

a month 7.85 3.22

185
196
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 76: Rates of return by academic programme (in percentages)

HELMS II HELMS I

Academic programmes At foregone income

assumption of c-c

P 49S a month P 746 52 a rwmth

I Agriculture 515
Direct cost at P 5tH)
a month 7 75 2 1.1

Direct cost at P 750

a month 6.20 1 85

2. Business administration 4.19

and commerce

Direct cost at P.500

a month 11.59 5 29

Direct cost at P.750

a month 926 44

3 Engineering and Technology 10.22

Direct cost at P.500

a month 17.54' 10 05

Direct cost at P.750

a month 14 02 8.37

4. Nutrition 2.73

Direct cost at P.500

a month 13 91 715

Direct cost at P 750

a month 11 12 595

5. Lz% and Foreign Senice 13 64

Direct cost at P.50:1

a month 27 32 17 88

Direct cost at P ;50

a month 21 85 14.9

6 Humanities 4 28

Direct Cost at P 501

a month 13 21' 6 64

Direct Cost at P 750

a month 10 62 553

186

197
 Expectations versus achievements

HELMS II HELMS 1

Academic programmes At foregone income

assumption of %
P.498 a month P.746.52 a month

7. Physical and Biological

Sciences 5.25

Direct Cos( at P 500

a month 13.19 6 56

Direct Cost at P 750

a month 10.55 5 48

8. Social Science 7 69

Direct Cost at P.500

a montn 14.57 7.68

Direct Cost at P.750

a month 11.65 6.39

9. Medical Sciences 2.75

Direct Cost at P.500

a month 8.62 2.92

Direct Cost at P.750

a month 6.39 2.43

10.Music and Fine Arts 5.7

Direct Cent at P.500

a month 14.52 1.64

Direct Cost at P.750

i month 11.61 6.36

11.Teacher Training 2.67

Direct Cos: at P 500

a month 4.71 (0.211

Direct Cost at P.753

a month

12.Other Liberal Arts Courses 4 2:

Direct Cost at P.500

a month 22 10 13 71

Direct Cost at P 750

a month 17 68 11.42

198
8. Principal findings: HELMS II

The finding as reported in this chapter are a sequel to the summary of

results of the HELMS I survey as reported in Chapter 1, and sho
taken as capsulized answers to the research questions posed in Chapter
2. For those mainly interested in the conclusions and their policy
implications, this chapter and Chapter 9 should be concentrated upon.
The present chapter brings together the most important findings of the
HELMS II Survey already discussed in the previous chapters.

8.1 Characteristics of respondents

8.1.1 Age, sex and civil status of HELMS II respondents

Unlike HELMS 1, the sampling base for HELMS H was the educational
institution. The male-female distribution, therefore, reflects the
predominance of females in higher education, with 59 per cent female
and 41 per cent male's This sex ratio in the sample should in particular
be borne in mind in the analyses of those who dropped out, the
'tortoises'. the unemployed and the employed graduates. As shown in
Table 8.1. the sex ratio amongst employed graduates is similar to the
sample. However, for the unemployed 66.7 per cent are female which is

15 In 1981, the third level student population comprised 53 per cent females
and 47 per cent males.

188

199
 Principal findings: HELMS II

much higher. The results of the discriminant analysis shown in Chapter

3 revealed that there is a greater possibility of unemployment if one is
female. On the other hand, there are more mares in the groups of
dropouts and 'tortoises'.
HELMS II respondents are a more homogeneous group in terms of
age and much younger than HELMS I graduates. Not only are they
young at age 23-24; they are also mostly unmarried

8.1.2 Parental background

The majority of the fathers of the employed and unemployed graduates

and the 'tortoises' are college educated. On the other hand, the majority
of the fathers of dropouts have lower educatio:sdl qualifications.
However, this did not have much discriminant weight. The academic
related variables such as field of specialization, self-assessed college
performance, etc., provide better explanations for being a college
dropout, together with financial reasons and full-time work.
As to the mother's education, the majority did not have a college
education, but the mothers of dropouts have the lowest percentage
(21.2 per cent) of those with college education and the highest
percentage (44.2 per cent) who only completed elementary education.
(See Table 8.2)
The predominant fields of specialization of parents are law, busi-
ness administration, engineering, medicine and teacher education. Law
has lost its popularity among students. In HELMS 1. only 4.7 per cent
of the graduates were in law, which slightly decreased to 4.3 per cent in
HELMS 11.
There is a disturbing indication that agricultural workers are
unable to send their children to college. In HELMS 1, 32.5 per cent of
the fathers were agricultural workers, but this went down to 14.1 per
cent of the employed graduates in HELMS II (See Table 8.3) However,
a healthy sign is that slightly more graduates in HELMS 11 went into
agriculture (6 per cent) compared to 3.5 per cent in HELMS 1.
Between HELMS 1 and 11, there was an increase of the proportion
of parents in the professional, technical administrative, executive and
managerial workers, and sales, for instance, in HELMS 1, only 17.11 per
cent of the fathers engaged in professional and technical education but
this increased to 27.6 per cent in HELMS II. One reason for this

189
200
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

disturbing trend is the financial costs of college education which are

slowly becoming prohibitive: only those in high-paying occupations can
now afford to send their children to college. Parents occupying low
level occupations such as production, service and transport workers are
*finding difficulties in sending their children to college. Consequently,
most children of low-level-occupation parents are content with
completing high school or elementary education.
Children of high-income parents are the most likely to graduate
and secure employment (See Table 8.41. The parents of employed
graduates have an aye' age monthly income of P 5,064.53 compared to
P.1,525.06 for parents of dropouts and P.4,321.89 ft.r parents whose
children had finished college and were still searching for a job at the
time of the HELMS II survey.

8.1.3 Educational background of graduates

8.1.3.1 High school background.

Of the graduates, those who obtained employment had received the best
preparation for college. Their mean NCEE score was 91.7 per cent
compared to 86.17 per cent for the unemployed. The dropouts and
`tortoises' have much lower mean NCEE scores of 76.3 per cent and
77.5 per cent respectively. (See Table 8.6). A closer look at the
employed and the unemployed graduates showed that the majority (56.3
per cent) of employed University of Philippines graduates were from
private sectarian high schools and 50 per cent of unemployed University
of Philippines graduates came from public high schools. Private secta-
rian colleges and universities generally get students from sectarian high
schools. The majority of both the employed and unemployed graduates
of Catholic and Protestant colleges and universities are from sectarian
high schools. The proprietary schools and other state colleges cater to
public high school graduates.
A study of high school performance conducted by one of the
authors reveals that sectarian high schools have the best performance of
all high schools. The implication is that colleges and universities, such
as University of Philippines and the sectarian colleges, that recruit high
school graduates from sectarian schools have students who are better
prepared for college work and their field of specialization.

190

2 c. i
 Principal findings: HELMS 11

8.1.4 Type of college of graduates

Employment analysis by type of college (See Table 8.5). ought to

correspond to the percentages of sample respondents. Unfortunately,
the distribution is unequal. The table shows that the percentage of grad-
uates of public higher education in employment is higher especially for
University of Philippines. The employment of graduates from private
higher education is less impressive. The data on unemployment rates in
Table 8.13 confirm this finding.

8.1.5 Degree programmes of graduates

The continuing predominance of commerce graduates is quite evident.

Among the fathers of the emr:oyed graduates, 22.2 per cent were grad-
uates of commerce and business administration. In HELMS I, 29.8 per
cent account for business administration graduates while in HELMS II,
they account for 21.1 per cent.
Teacher education, which was the second most popular course of
graduates in HELMS I, did not retain its status in HELMS II. Only
12.5 per cent of the employed and 4.5 per cent of the unemployed are
graduates of teacher education; this is way below the 23.2 per cent
recorded in HELMS 1. The popularity of medicine, engineering and
tecnnology is increasing at 17.1 per cent and 15.4 per cent respectively
(See Table 8.7). Social science, 2.3 per cent in HELMS 1, has climbed
to 10.9 per cent amongst the HELMS 11 employed graduates.

8.2 College dropouts and 'tortoises'

College dropouts and slow learners (tortoises) are manly from law-
income families. As stated before, they had lower NCEE mean scores.
When they obtained employment (only 49 per cent), they received
a low income of P.764 E,9 on the average compared to the employed
graduates (P.1,096.67). Moreover, the waiting period is much longer at
6.5 months compared to 1.9 months for the employed graduates.
The reasons for dropping out are closely related to their low-
income-family background. Financial constraint and full-time work are
the predominant reasons for being a college dropout. (See Table 8.8).

191

202
 Employment and carecr opportunities after graduation

A better pre-college preparation, or high academic performance in

high school, ie. a good indication that the students will not drop out.
University of Philippines is a case in point because its practice of
selecting only the cream of high school graduates has led to a lower
drop-out rate. (See Table 8.9).
The problems that cause prolonged studies are financial, academic
and the rigours of a full-time work. Tortoises are concentrated in
proprietary and Protestant educational institutions. The reason for this
is that many students in these types of educational institutions are on a
part-time basis.
As to academic programmes, tortoises are genera:ly in engineering
and technology. In this field of specialization it is not unusual for
students to prolong their studies since the academic rigours and labora-
tory requirements are such that average students cannot cope with the
full semestral load. It is quite common for students in engineering and
technology to take less than the full academic load. On the other hand,
there are occasions when the colleges are at fault, being unable to offer
the required programmes for lack of faculty, especially in specialized
engineering subjects.

8.3 Self-assessed college performance in assessment of

content and method of Instruction
Self-assessed performance in college showed some variations. None of
the dropouts graded himself below average or poor; neither did anyone
grade themselves as excellent. Among the employed graduates, 1.8 per
cent graded themselves excellent and 1.8 per cent below average. These
self-assessments have some similarity to HELMS 1 (For details, see
Table 8.10). The greate t nu.nber (81.7 per cent) of the unemployed
graduates graded themselves average; but more of the college dropouts
(87.5 per cent) made the same self-estimate. In summary, one may
rank the employed graduates first in their own assessment of college
performance, followed by the unemployed graduates and the college
dropouts coming last. Compared to the NCEE mean scores already
analyzed, this is realistic because the college dropouts had the lowest
mean score, followed by the unemployed, and then the employed gradu-
ates.

192 20 3
 Principal find.ngs: HELMS II

Besides assessing themselves, the graduates were also asked to

assess the contents and methods of instruction. As to both contents and
methods, the variation in assessment between HELMS I and Il is very
little. The situation in HELMS II appears to be slightly better (see
Tables 8.11 and 8.12).

8.4 Graduates in search of a job

Based on HELMS I data, Psacht, ropoulos and Sanyal (1981)16 assthned
that the unemployment of college graduates in the Philippines was of a
voluntary nature. Graduates were still in the job-hunting stage, evalu-
ating various job and career options, and therefore the problem is not
serious and may be considered more of a transition problem from the
world of academe to the world of work. These graduates are in a sense
not in a state of unemployment but actively in search of a job.
The gravity of the problem of unemployed graduates in search-of-
a-job varies by type of institution and curricular programme. Graduates
of public higher education have a low percentage of unemployment
(10.02 per cent) compared to graduates of private higher education
(28.14 per cent) (For details, see Table 8.13). Among public higher
education, graduates of University of Philippines have the lowest rate of
unemployment (6.74 per cent). On the other hand, graduates of
foundation-type institutions have lower rates of unemployment amongst
private higher institutions. It may be inferred from this varying rate of
unemployment that some qualitative difference exists between the grad-
uates.
On the average, the rate of unemployment across academic
programmes is 19.6 per cent. The lowest rate is amongst graduates of
teacher education (8.5 per cent) and law and foreign service (9.3 per
cent); the highest is amongst graduates of other liberal arts programme
(46.2 per cent), medical sciences (29.2 per cent), nutrition (27 per cent)
and physical biological sciences (25.4 per cent). The high unemploy
ment of graduates of medical, physical and biological sciences is not a
cause for alarm since such graduates usually wait for the result of their
board examinations and may 'n the tr eantime be engaged in some occa-
sional .i,ork. Graduates of physical and biological sciences are generally

16 Op.cit.

204 193
 Employment and career opportunuies after graduation

waiting for admission into medical schools. The variation of unemploy-

ment by degree programmes reflects the demand-and-supply situation.
Take the case of teacher graduation. In the 60s there was a glut of
teachers. Consequently, enrolment went down drastically in the 70s.
However, with the ever growing demand for highly qualified teachers,
there is now a shortage as shown in the low rate of unemployment of
graduates of teacher education programmes. .

Unemployment wre -ot have been so high had the graduates

accepted all job offers, (7 ..J.3 per cent refused job offers for vai.aus
,

reasons, e.g., the opening was not in the field of specialization, the
salary was quite low, the place of work was far from residence and
parental consent was not given to accept the job.
The high unemployment rate was also dis, to the fact that gradu-
ates were not utilizing the best methods to obtain a job and that some
graduates were simply not interested in getting a job, at least for the
time being.

8.5 Employment of graduates

8.5.1 Employment by occupation

Data from HELMS 1 and 11 show a marked occupational improvement

from parents to children and in the two cohorts of employed graduates.
In HELMS 1, only 17.11 per cent cf the parents were in the profes-
sional and technical occupations while the rate was 42.67 per cent for
childrel . The corresponding percentages in HELMS 11 is 27.6 per cent
for parents and 68.7 per cent for children. The improvement to 68.7
per cent was in relation to the professional, technical and related
workers (For details, see Table 8.14).
Occupational improvement is likewise shown by the declining
percentage of graduates occupying clerical occupations. In HELMS 1,
37.04 per cent of graduates were employed as clerks, which declined to
13.4 per cent in HELMS 11.
A comparison of the occupations of graduates in the HELMS
surveys with that of the national occupational profile leads to the
conclusion that it pays to be a college graduate. In the national occupa-
tional profile, 5.71 per cent and 6.17 per ceat in 1978 and 1981 respec-

194

2( "t r
,
 Principal findings: HELMS 11

tively consisted of workers in the category or professional, technical and

related workers. The corresponding percentage in HELMS I is much
higher at 42.67 per cent and in HELMS II, 68.7 per cent. There was
just a little over 1 per cent in the category administrative, managerial
and executive in the national occupational profile, while graduates with
this employment constitute 4.9 per cent in HELMS II and 5.95 per cent
in HELMS 1.

8.5.2 Sectoral employment and industrial classification

The private sector is the biggest employer of graduates (66.8 per cent in
HELMS I and 61.16 per cent in HELMS 11). (See Table 8.15).
In the private sector, private corporations are the biggest employer
(71.3 per cent) followed by single proprietorship (16.11 per cent) and
partnership (12.59 per cent), (For details, see Table 8.16).
The public sector has an increasing share in the employment of
graduates: from 33.2 per cent in HELMS 1 38.84 per cent in HELMS II.
However, the percentage has rot been high enough to match the
expected public sector employment of 44.9 per cent, as revealed by the
students of HELMS I Survey.
Within the public sector, the National Government (61.81 per
cent) is the dominant employer followed by the local government (16.91
per cent), Government Corporation (16.03 per cent) and the provincial
government (5.25 per cent). (See Table 8.17).
The economic sector category that employs the biggest percentage
of graduates is the community, social anu personal services (48.1 per
cent in HELMS 11 and 47.8 per cent in HELMS 1). With respect to the
fathers of employed graduates in HELMS 11, 34.8 per cent were
employed in this sector. Comparing this with the national profile, only
15.96 per cent and 17.04 per cent in 1978 and 1981 respectively vere in
community, social and personal services. The economic sector that
employs the largest part of the total labour force is agriculture with
52.21 per cent and 54.49 per cent in 1978 and 1981 respectively (For
details, see Table 8.18). Only 6 per cent of graduates in HELMS 11 and
3.5 per cent in HELMS I are employed in this sector.

206 195
 &tip loymmt and career opportututtes after graduation

8.5.3 Waiting period

Between HELMS I and 11, one notes a substantial shortening in the

waiting period. On the average, HELMS 1 graduates waited for around
six months. This has decreased to only two months in HELMS II. After
actively looking for work, 72.6 per cent of HELMS II graduates were
employed compared to only 54.4 per cent of HELMS 1. After six
months, 92.7 per cent of HELMS 11 graduates were employed compared
to 76.9 per cent of HELMS I (For details, see Table 8.19).
By type of institutions, there are variations in the waiting period
with University of Philippines graduates having an advantage over all
others. However, this advantage is slowly declining as noted in HELMS
II. (See Table 8.20).

8.5.4 Mean income

The mewl income of giaduates varies by occupation, industrial classifi-

cation, college type and academic programme. As expected and just as
in HELMS I, graduates in the administrative, executive and managerial
positions get the highest average pay of P.1,914.15 a month. Sales
workers rank second in pay at P.1,179.30 a month which is a substantial
increase from P.658.49 in HELMS I. The production, transportation
and related workers I....ye likewise improved in income from P.807.08 in
HELMS I to P.1,145.56 in HELMS II. The lowest paid occupation in
HELMS II is for agricultural workers at only P.696.87. In HELMS 1,
the lowest-paid employees were the service workers at only P.355.17 a
month. The service workers in HELMS II have had the highest increase
in real terms. In money terms, their income amounts to P.901 a month
in HELMS II which represents an increase of 35.33 per cent in real
terms, i.e. improvement in income which took into account inflation
between HELMS I (1976 Survey) and HELMS II (1981 Survey).
Clerical workers have substantially improved their income in real terms
by 14.35 per cent. followed by the sales workers at 10.86 per cent (For
details. see Table 8.21).
The agricultural workers had the highest erosion of real income
with a negative 11.91 per cent, followed by administrative, executive
and managerial workers (negative 7.57 per cent).

196 207
 Principal findings: HELMS II

For all the graduates, the average growth in real income between
HELMS I and II is 2.28 per cent which is just slightly more than the
real growth of income of all mern:)ets of the labour force at 2 1 p..r
cent. In any case, the college graduates are much better off with an
annual income of P.13,160.04 in 1981 which is much higher than the
average per capita income of P.5,0:17 in 1976. This again is evidence
that it pays to be a college graduate.
The economic sector that pays the highest is Finance, Insurance,
Real Estate and Business Services where the average pay of college
graduates is P.1,359.30. This is followed by construction P.1,321.88,
Mining and quarrying P.1,321.50, electricity, gas and water P.1,280, etc.,
(For details, see Table 8.22). In real income, the sectors that have
shown the highest growth are electricity, gas and water (11.74 per cent);
construction (8.15 per cent); wholesale and retail (6.31 per cent), etc.
The laggard is community services where income declined 2.85 per cent
in real terms.
By type of educational :nstitution, the graduates of University of
Philippines have shown the highest pay in both HELMS I and II. In
HELMS II, the graduates of Catholic educational institutions ranked
next to University of Philippines in terms of income. While graduates
of other Government colleges ranked second to University of
Philippines in HELMS I, they ranked the lowest in Fli...LMS II (For
details, see Table 8.23).
As to academic programme, lawyers receives the highest income as
in HELMS I. h HELMS II, the graduates of other liberal arts graduates
ranked second to the lawyers unlike in HELMS I where the engineers
ranked next to the lawyers. The ranking of engineers in HELMS II
went down to third rank (For details, ste Table 8.24). Teachers
continued to have the lowest pay of all in both HELMS I and II.

8.6 Expectations versus achievements

Expectations versus achievements were analyzed in terms of three char-
acteristics, viz.: (1) income; (2) v.aiting period; and (3) employment in
one's own field of specialization.
The respondents in HELMS II were quite realistic in their percep-
tions and expectations.

197

21)R
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Income expectation varies by academic programme. Teacher

education students who had the lowest income expectation of only
P.459 a month have the lowest actual income at P.733.20 in HELMS II.
On the other hand, students of law and foreign service who had indi-
cated the highest income expectations actually realized very high
incomes at P.1,861.24 a month in HELMS II.
The waiting period shortened substantially in HELMS II to only
two months on the average. While 51 per cent expected to wait three
months or less, there were actually more who secured employment
within three months. In HELMS 1, 63.6 per cent were able to find
employment within three months and this improved to 72.6 per cent in
HELMS 11.
The expected rates of return were well within the range of actual
rates as shown in Table 8.25., Those with the lowest expected rates of
return, i.e. those in teacher education, actually have the lowest rates;
and those with the highest expectations (i.e. lawyers) actuall do better
Obtaining a job in one's field of specialization is rated high for
graduates in applied sciences (73.28 per cent) compared to graduates of
liberal arts (26.95 per cent). Approximately 11.38 per cent of the grad-
uates of applied science courses were employed in a job that requires a
background in business education, 11 per cent in education background,
etc. Since only 26.95 per cent of liberal arts graduates obtained jobs
regt;iring a 1" en-a arts background, the remainder found employment
that required academic preparaticn in business administration (25.22
per cent) and education (10.95 per cent), etc. Many would consider this
as an educational mismatch, but it should be viewed in the context of
the country's economic situation where the capability to generate
employment is not as great as the capacity :...f tertiary schools to
produce graduates. A further factor is the heterogeneity of academic
standards in higher education where some academic credentials do not
provide a good measure of intellectual and academic capabilities.
Looking at this more positively, one may postulate that higher
education in the Philippines offers flexibilities that enable graduates to
adapt to job requirements and occupational variations.
After the HELMS II survey, the country experienced traumatic
political and economic events that have altered the social and economic
conditions of the country and had wide and pervasive effects on the
whole economy. Thus, in analyzing the results of HELMS 11, one must
take the post HELMS situation (given in the following chapter) into

198

209
 Principal findings: HELMS II

account. However, most of the findings given above remain valid as

regards their implications for planning, even with the c hanges in the
economy and the employment situation.

210 199
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 8.1: Distribution by sex, age and civil status

Sex HELMS 1 11F,LMS 11

'Tortoise' Dropout Lmployed Unemployed

Male 49.9% 60.97% 56.4% 40% 33.3%

Female 50.1% 39.03% 53.6% 60% 66.7%

Respondents in HELMS 11 Male 41%

Female 59%

HELMS 11
Married Single Mean Age

'Tortoise' 4.9% 95.1% 23.05%

Dropouts 35.7% 64.3% 24.3%

Employed 15.7% 84.3% 24.15%

Unemployed 20.7% 79.4% 23.71%

200
211
 Principal findings: HELMS II

Table 8.2: Parents' education

HELMS II
'Tortoise' Dropout Employed Unemployed

Father
%
-
%

Law 36.4 25 27 25.4

Business Administration 18.2 25 22.2 32.8

Engineering 18.2 8.3 23.4 16.4

Medicine 9.1 10.6 7.5

Teacher Eduction 9.1 16.1 5.8 6.0

Mother

Law 11.1 16.6 1.6 10

Teacher 22.2 50 59.6 66

Business Administration 66.7 16.7 11.4 10

Level of Terminal Education

Father

Elementary 22.2 27.8 17.8 22.7

Secondary 22.2 37 23.5 26.3
College 55.6 35.2 58.7 51.0

Mother

Elementary 29.7 44.2 25.2 31.1

Secondary 27.0 34.6 29.5 32.7
College 43.2 21.2 45.3 36.2

201
212
1'4
=
14
Table 8.3: Occupation of parents

Mother Father
HELMS Ii HELMS Ii
HELMS I 'Tortoise' Dropout Employ:4 Liner-ploy:4 Helms I 'Tortoise' Dropout Employ:4 UnemployA

Agricultural
Workers 2.35 1.9 1.7 3.4 32.5 26.5 20 14.1 16 5

Professional.
Technical 11.26 38 18.8 15.6 17.11 17.6 20 27.6 19

Adminictrathe
Managerial
and Executise 2.12 3.8 4,2 3.4 10.65 14.7 10 16 4 15.8

Sales Workers 6.82 15.1 8.9 10.5 9.85 12.5 12.1 9.2

Clerks 0.89 5.7 2.6 0.4 6.6 10 7.6 9.2

Non-Working
Housewife 72.75 63.4 64.0 58.5 60.3

Total 96.19 63.4 94.3 94.7 93.6 76.71 58.8 72.5 72.8 71.7

213
 Principal findings: HUMS II

Table 8.4: Mean income of parents

'Tortoise' Dropouts Employed Unemployed

Father P.2 555.35 P. 938.40 P.3.187.77 P.2 729.13

Mother 1206.38 586.66 1876.76 1592.76

Total Family Income P.3 761.73 P.1 525.06 P.5 064.53 P.4 321.89

Table 8.5: Distribution of respondents by type of college

Sample
Respondents 'Tortoise' Employed Unemployed

Public Sector
%
-%
-% %

U.P. 26.2 7.3 29.7 7.7

Other
State Colleges 9.4 2.4 10.8 8.6

Private Sector

Catholic 16.1 22.0 14.7 19.5

Protestant 5.1 7.3 4.7 6.9

Proprietary 39.7 61.0 35.9 54.9

Foundation 3.4 0 4.1 2.4

Total 99.Q 100.0 99.9 100.0

214 203
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 8.6: Mean NCEE score

'Tortoise' 77.5

College Dropouts 76.3

Employed Graduates 91.7

Unemployed 86.17

Table 8.8: Reasons for dropping out of college

Male Female
Weight Rank Weight Rank
1. Financial Reason 2.11 1 2.23 1

2. Due to Full-time Work 2.22 2 2.38 2

3. Marriage 3.25 3 3.64 3

4. Due to Part-time work 3.43 4 3.46 4

5. Lack of Interest 3.75 5 3.85 5

6. Physical Environment
of the College 4.14 6 4.19 6

7. Health Reasons 5.15 7 4.15 7

4) I r:
4., ..t. :.,

204
 Table 8.7: Degree programme (in percentages)

1. liumnes< Adminhtration
F.clucation
of the
I tither.

2' 2
'1 ot Misc.

15.0
Dropouts

29 1
Employed

21.1
U.:employed
_____.
22.1
_
Hums I

29.8

2. Engineering and
Technology 23.5 37 5 14.5 15 4 13 9 84

3. Medicine 10 6 12.5 5.5 17 1 25.8 9.3

4. Social Sciences 1.7 12.5 4.1 10 9 94 2.3

5. Teacher education 5.8 25 16 4 12.5 45 23.2

Total 63.80 80 0 74 6 77 0 75 7 73.5

216
14
C
U)
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 8.9: Reasons for prolonging studies

Rank Male Female

1. Financial 2.20 2.0 2.64

2. Academic Reason 2.50 2.26 2.91

3. Due to Full-time Job 3.08 3.56 2.22

4. Due to Study Interruption 3.10 3.28 2.82

5. Due to Part-time Job 3.24 2.22 2.0

6. Marriage 5.55 5.58 5.50

Table 8.10: Self-assessment of college performance

HELMSII
% % % %
HELMS I Dropouts Employed Unemployed
Poor (75%) 0.09

Below Average 75-79 2.53 1.8 1.8

Average 80-85 67.63 87.5 63.0 81.7

Above Average 86-94 2815 12.5 33.3 16.0

Excellent 95+ 1.6 0 1.8 0.05

2 11
206
 Principal findings: HELMS 11

Table 8.11: Assessment of content of instruction (in percentages)

HELMS II
HELMS I Dropout Employed Unemployed

Inadequate 0.46 2 1.8

Barely Adequate 3.21 4.9 5.5

Adequate 50.32 50.0 47.2 61.6

Very Adequate 36.75 12.5 36.1 25.6

Excellent 9.26 37.5 9.8 5.5

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Table 8.12: Assessment of method of instruction (in percentages)

HELMS II
HELMS I Dropout Employed Unemployed

Inadequate LW 3.1 L8

Barely Adequate 4.19 12.5 5.9 8.2

Adequate 50.0 12.5 48.i 57.5

Very Adequate 35.18 25.0 34.2 25.6

Exrellent 9.62 50.0 8.7 6.8

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

.4-18 207
 Employment and career opponunittes after graduation

Table 8.13: Unemployed graduates (in percentages)

Type of College % Unemployed

1. Public Higher Education 10(12

1.1. U.P. 6.74

1.2. Other State Colleges and Universities 17.95

2. Private Higher Education 28.14

2.1. Catholic 26 97

2.2. Protestant 28.81

2.3. Proprietary 29.8(1

2.4. Foundation 14.29

3. Total 21.75

Table 8.14: Employment by Occupation

HELMS I HELMS 11 National

Profile
Father Graduates Father C ,duates 1978 1981

% % % % % %

Profe-sional.
Tech.. al and
Related Workers 17.11 42.67 27.6 68.7 5.71 6.17

Clerical Workers 6.6 37.04 7.6 13.4 3.99 4.44

Production. Trans-
port and Labourers 12.19 9.19 11.6 2 7 18.88 17 92

Administrative.
Managerial and
Executive 10.65 5.95 16.4 4.9 1.03 1.02

Total 46.55 94.95 63.2 89.7 29.61 29.55

208
219
 Principal findings: HELMS II

Table 8.15: Employment by type of firm of organization

HELMS II HELMS I Expected

Sectoral
Employment
in Public

Public Sector 38 84 33.1 -

Private Sector 61.16 66.8 44 9

Table 8.16: Distribution in the Private Sector

Corporation 71.3

Partnership 12.59

Single Proprietorship
and self-employed 16.11

Total 100.0

Table 8.17: Distribution in the Public Sector employment

National Government 61.81

Provincial 5.25

Local 16.91

Government Corporation 16 03

Total 100.00

209
220
 ,
1J
....

Table 8.18: Employment by industrial classification (in percentaps)

HELMS I HELMS II National

Profile

Father Graduate Father _Graduate 1978 1981

Community. Social
and Personal Services 47.8 34.8 48.1 15 96 17 04

Manufacturing 13.1 8.6 14.6 11.5 9.99

Mining and Quarrying 12 5 02 0.5 0.40 0.51

Finance. insurance. Real Estate

and Personal Services 6.2 9.8 18.6 1.85 1.95

Agriculture 3.5 16.9 6.0 52.21 51.49

Total 83.1 70.3 87.8 81.92 80.98

221
 Principal findings: HELMS II

Table 8.19: Waiting period

After actively looking for work HELMS I HELMS II

54.5% 72.6%
Two months
76.9% 92.7%
Six months

One Year 88.8% 98.5%

Table 8.20: Waiting period by type of Educational Institutions

Percentage of Employment

HELMS 1 HELMS II

Two Six One Two Six One

Months Months Year Months Months Year

L Public Sector

56.9 79.8 93.7 85.9 79.8 93.7

U.P.

Other State
and Colleges 46.6 76.3 80.1 75.36 89.86 100.0

2. Private Sector

Catholic 38.9 64.8 81.7 72.5 95.1 100.0

Protestant 43.2 72.0 85.6 50.0 82.4 100.0

Proprietary 34.3 6L8 83 3 65.8 80.6 98.7

222 211
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 8.21: Mean income by occupation

Mean Income

Real Growth
Occupation in Income HELMS II HELMS I

1. Prof.. Tech. and

Related Workers. (3.03%) 1 098.40 799.37

2. Admin. Exec. and Mngr. (7.57%) 1 914.15 1 580.89

3. Clerical 14.35% 902.95 476.33

4. Sales Workers 10.86% 1 179.31 658.49

5. Service Workers 35.33% 901.00 355.17

6. Agricultural and
Related Workers (11.91 %) 696.87 329.05

7. Prod. Trans. Labourers (1.52%) 1 145.56 807.08

8. Unclassified by Occu. 969.00

212 223
 Principal findings: HELMS II

Table 8.22: Mean income by industrial classification

Mean Income
Real Growth
Industrial Sector in Income HELMS II HELMS I

I. Agricultural 5.57% 945.78 579.39

2. Mining and Quarrying 3.22% 1 321.50 787.90

3. Manufacturing 5.66% 1 272.22 778.04

4. Elec. Gas Water 11.74% 1 288.12 708.85

5. Construction 8.15% 1 321.88 773.24

6. Wholesale and Retail 6.31% 1 164.70 704.02

7. Trans. Storage and Comm. 2.55% 1 090.41 707.24

8. Financing and Business 1.67% 1 359.30 897.05

9. Community Services (2.85%) 923.44 669.30

224 213
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Table 8.23: Mean income by college type

Mean Income

Type of College HELMS I HELMS II

1. U.P. System 1 412.20 1 562.19

2. Government 791.85 686.08

3. Catholic 652.43 1 020.33

4. Protestant 629.69 802.10

5. Proprietary 699..1 928.82

6. Foundation 706.57 987.55

225
214
 Principal findings: HELMS II

Table 8.24: Mean income by academic programme

Mean Income

Academic Programme HELMS I HELMS II

1. Agricilture 636 884.49

2. Business Administr and al 579 1 076 09

3 Engineering and Technician 9i2 1 373.15

4. Nutrition 499 1 192.17

5. Law and Foreign Service 1 098 1 861.24

6. Humanities 584 1160.43

7 Phys. and Bio. Sciences 637 1 156.40

8. Social Science 771 1 225.03

9. Medical Science 520 928.61

10. Music and Fine Arts 662 1 222.50

11. Teacher Training 495 733.20

12. Other Liberal Arts Courses 580 1 601.00

Table 8.25: Percentage of employment in the field of specialization and

other areas

Graduates in

Liberal Arts Applied courses

Employment in the Field

of Specialization 26 95 73.28

Employment in a Job Requiring

Business Backgrcund 25.22 11.38

Employment in a Job Requiring

Education Background 10 93 11.00

Total 83.13 95.66

215
226
 lintplovn:ent and careen opportunities after graduation

Table 8.26: Rates of return

HELMS I HELMS 11
Range of Rates of Return 2 67% Negative 0.18%
to 19,37% to 27.32%
1. Type of College

1.1 U.P. 10,37% 10 89% to 21.33%

1.2 Other State Colleges
and Universities 8.07 L21% to 3.77%
1,3 Catholic 5.53% 3,65% to 10.47%
1.4 Protestant 5 1% 6.74% to 6.09%
1.5 Proprietary 6.38% 2.44% to 8.63%
1.6 Found:,: ion 6,51% 3.22% to 9.82%
2, Acaditnic Programme
2.1 Agriculture 5.15% 1.86% to 7.75%
2.2 Business Administration 4.19% 4.4% to 11.58%
2.3 Engineering and Technology 10.22% 8,37% to 17.54%
2.4 Nutrition 2.73% 5,95% to 13.91%
2.5 Law and Foreign Service 13.64% 14.9% to 27.32%
2.6 Humanities 4,28% 5.53% to 13.28%
2.7 Physical and Biological
Sciences 5,35% 5,48% to 13.19%
2.8 Social Sc'ences 7.69% 6.39% to 14.57%
2.9 Medical Sciences 2.75% 2.43% to 8.62%
2,10 Music and Fine Arts 5.7% 6.3o% to 14.52%
2,11 leacher Training 2.67% ((1 18%) to 4.71%
2.12 Other Liberal Arts Courses 4.21% 11.42% to 22.10%

216 2'` "

9. Post-HELMS II situation of the
economy and of employment

After the HELMS 11 survey in 1981, there was a dramatic change in the
economic and political situation. A more detailed analysis of the rami-
fications of the situation is necessary to gain a better appreciation of the
data presented. The conclusions and the implications of HELMS find-
ings should be considered together with the following analysis as a basis
for making alternative recommendations.

9.1 Gross Domestic Product

A closer look at the Gross Domestic Product of the Philippines in 1983
and 1984 reveals declines of 1.3 per cent in 1983 and a little over 5 per
cent in 1984. The impact of the latter is such that it will still be felt up
to 1990, i.e., it is projected that the per capita consumption of the
Filipino will still be 6 per cent lower in 1990 than in 1983. The impli-
cation of this for planning of higher education is that between now and
1990, there will be no increase in real terms of the nation's expenditures
on education. There will only be an increase if there are significant
changes in the priority accorded to education over all other expendi-
tures, but empirical data show that such will not be the case. As
analyzed by Bro. Rolando R. Dizon." wnile we in the Philippines, value
education in terms of verbal articulation, we have not been providing

17 Paper presented h. B-o. Rolando, R.Dizon. FSC at the University of San

Carlos. Cebu Cit.. Philippines, April 11. 1985.

217
228
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

substantial finances for education.

A further disaggregation of Gross Domestic Product shows the
economic sectors most adversely affected in 1984. The sector worst hit
was industry with an 8.91 per cent decline, followed by the services
sector, 2.8 per cent. In spite of declines in nearly all economic sectors,
agriculture performed creditably well with a 1.21 per cent increase.
Within the industrial sector, mining suffered the worst decline at 20 per
cent. followed by construction (19.48 per cent), and manufacturing
(5.58 per cent). Only electricity, gas and water showed a positive
growth of 9.9 per cent. On the other hand, in the services sector,
finance and housing suffered the most with a 5.19 per cent decline
followed by services (4.88 per cent). Trade services did not suffer much
and showed a positive growth of 1.43 per cent. The implications of this
for education is that schools educating students from an agricultural
milieu will be far better off than those with students whose parents are
employed in the industrial sector, especially mining, construction and
manufacturing.
There are growth disparities among the regions. Metro Manila and
the surrounding regions showed high growth while Eastern Visayas,
Cagayan Valley, Bicol and Southwestern Mindanao exhibited low
growth. Within regions, the urban areas, where
manufacturing and
industries are located, experienced the worst effects of the economic
crisis.
Provinces that are dependant on a single crop for cash income like-
wise suffered from the crisis. An example of this is Negros Occidental,
which is mainly dependent on sugar. Coconut-producing provinces' may
not suffer as much, while rice-producing regions would enjoy relative
stability.
Managers in education must take account of the phenomenon of
uneven growth across regions, the rural-urban dichotomy and the
nature of commodities on which the parents of students depend for
income. The response to the crisis will depend on analysis of the extent
to which students are adversely affected by growth disparities.

216
229
 Post-HELMS ll situation of the eocnonty and of employment

9.2 Per Capita Income

Gross Domestic Product disaggregated into per capita income deter-
-nines the capability of society to pay for the cost of quality education.
.t is important that school administrators have some idea of the income
levels of students to enable them to determine to what extent students
would be able to pay the tuition fees. This is especially true in the
Philippines where private schools are mainly dependent on tuition fees
as the major source of revenues.
The average per capita income in the Philippines as of 1983 is a
little lower than the average in the ASEAN region. It was US$772
compared to that of the ASEAN region at US$800. The Philippines is
just ahead of Indonesia's per capita income of US$580 but behind
Thailand (US$805), Malaysia (US$1,857), and Singapore, (US$6,500)
which had the highest in the region prior to the entry of Brunei into
the ASEAN community.
The trend in per capita income follows the growth of Gross
Domestic Product. Thus, negative growth of 5.5 per cent in 1984 has
taken us back to 1980 income levels, and the possibility of it increasing
as forecast by the World Bank does not look very bright. Per capita
consumption in real terms will still be 6 per cent lower in 1990 than it
was in 1983. We do not expect, therefore, to have meaningful real
growth in per capita income until 1990. Moreover, if the growth rate
target is down to 1.9 per cent in the period 1985 to 1990," one would
expect per capita income to slide to 22 per cent lower in 1990 instead of
6 per cent as compared to 1983.
While on the average, projections for per capita income look bleak,
there are still those who can afford to pay the high cost of quality
education, i.e. the economic elitethe top 20 per cent of the population
belonging ..- the high income group. This group of Filipinos received
59.59 per cent of total income in 1983. In short, the upper 20 per cent
received more than the lower 80 per cent of the population.
In more concrete terms, an income of P.10,000 or below in 1984 is
gained by the lower 61.1 per cent of the population; P.10,000 to
P.24,999 by 22.3 per cent; P.25,000 to P.49,999 by 10.3 per cent; and
over P.50,000 by the top 2.3 per cent. Capability to pay tuition fees by
income level is as follows:

18 This has been the pessimistic alternative of the World Bank.

219

20
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

Per Capita Income. 1984 Amount of Educational

Expenditures

Less than P.10 000 Less than P.400 a year

10 000 - 24 999 P.400 to 999
25 000 49 999 1 000 to 1 999
Over 50 000 Over P.2 000

With these data on income distribution, a college could determine

the capability of students in its catchment area to pay for the cost of
quality education. One might infer from the table that if a school is
charging tuition fees of more than P.2,000 a year, that school is serving
the top 2.3 per cent of the population.
What is depressing about the inequality in the distribution of
income is that between 1980 and 1984 the share of the top 20 per cent
has increased from 48.71 per cent to 59.59 per cent, or an improvement
of 10.88 points, whereas the share of the lower 20 per cent has deterio-
rated from 4.99 per cent in 1980 to 3.41 per cent in 1984. A result of
this is that education will slowly become a privilege of the elite of
society. As shown in the HELMS I Report,'9 higher education is begin-
ning to be more elitist. If this trend continues without any strategic
intervention being made, education will continue to perpetuate inequali-
ties in society. Governmental and societal intervention is required to
arrest this trend and thus negate the charge that education mirrors
inequality in society.

9.3 Unemployment
The unemployment rate is a lot worse than the official figure of 6 per
cent. This discrepancy arises from the way the Philippines defines
unemployment, which is that a person is unemployed if he has not
worked one hour in a given quarter. This definition has understated the
level of unemployment. However, if one defines the unemployed
person as one who is looking for work and cannot find a job, the level

Op.cit.

220
231
 Post-HELMS II situation of the eocnomy and of employment

of unemployment would be quite high. In the HELMS Report, the rate

of unemployment of those with collegiate education is more than 20 per
cent. The NMYC (National Manpower and Youth Council) figure
which is more recent is 25 per cent.
Data from the Ministry of Labour and Employment in December
1984 indicates that 93,386 people were laid off either on a permanent
or temporary basis. This represents an 18.96 per cent increase on the
1981 level when there was a world-wide economic slump and the
Philippines suffered its worst economic crisis. lip manufacturing, laid-off
workers accounted for 62.41 per cent of the total. If parents are unem-
ployed, they would not be capable of financing any kind of schooling at
all.

9.4 Inflation
The unprecedented inflation rate in 1984 eroded the value of the
Philippines peso. It started at 33.3 per cent in January 1984 and reached
a peak of 63.83 per cent in October 1984, averaging a year-end inflation
of 50 per cent. In 1985, inflation began to slow down. The target, as
revealed by NEDA, is an inflation rate of 20 per cent in 1985, which is
a little lower than the forecast of the Asian Wall Street Journal of 23.8
per cent. It is the intention to bring inflation rate down to a 10 per cent
level in 1986-1987 and to 8 per cent in 1988 to 1990. There are already
encouraging signs that the rate is levelling off.

9.5 Stability of the Peso

The international stability of the peso will depend on the country's
capability to generate the necessary foreign exchange through exports in
order to finance the required imports and the servicing of foreign debts.
Due to import limitations in 1984, the Philippines achieved its first
trade surplus since 1981. However, it was not sufficient to finance the
total debt service of US$3.58 billion. Thu^ in 1984, there was a deficit
of US$1.5 billion on current account. It is expected that this level of
deficit will go down to $1.1 billion in 1985 and $0.5 billion in 1986.
Success in this objective will depend largely on the country's ability to
accelerate foreign exchange through exports, tourism and capital inflow.

221
232
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

With respect to capital inflow, this is dependent on the political

stability of the host country and the environment should be conducive
to healthy growth and development. This situation is .sadly wanting and
foreign investments in 1985 have gone down drastically. Foreign inves-
tors alone cannot be blamed, since many Filipino investors themselves
have exported money to the magnitude of USS3.9 billion between 1974
and 1984. This amount if repatriated is more than the country requires
to bail itself out of the pi,ent foreign exchange crisis.
Between no.v and 1987 will be crucial years for the Philippines.
There are elections coming and the outcome will determine whether
there will be long-term political stability to provide the foundation for
accelerated economic growth and development. The peso is expected to
be so volatile that proposals entailing foreign exchange obli.,ations
should be avoided. A lesson can be learned from the engineering loan
programme, about which one of the authors issued a warning in 1975,
when the loan was being packaged, that there is always a grave risk of
paying more when contracting any foreign exchange obligation.

9.6 Scenario of the future: An optimistic view

The scenario for the Pacific Basin Countries is one of an area of peace
and prosperity. For example, the modernization of China, where there
are over a billion people, will provide opportunities. '''',e change in
leadership in Russia, which has been described as a arning point
towards greater liberalization, will have a significant impact on foreign
trade. And of course, there is the continuing need by Japan for indus-
trial materials from the Pacific Basin countries. Many countries are
benefitting from this development, and the Philippines is in an advanta-
geous position with its wealth of natural resources.
In political terms, a high priority has to be given to democratic
socio-political reforms which would lead to normalization.
In economic terms, desirable change entails a shift of industrial
policy from import substitution to a balanced agro-industrial develop-
ment. An import-substitution policy demands a massive infusion of
foreign exchange, since it links industrial development with external
sources or raw materials. The textile industry, meat processing, car
assembly plant, etc., were of this nature. When foreign exchange
reaches prohibitive levels, massive inflation occurs. When raw materials

222 233
 Post-HELMS II situation of the eocnomy and of employment

are not available, the closure of enterprises is inevitable, the manufac-

turing sector is the most hard hit by any foreign exchange crisis.
A balanced agro-industrial development policy shifts emphasis to
agriculture and agri-based industrial development. At the same time,
however, efforts must be made to get the most out of industrial firms
that show promise (.,1 long-term viability.
The shift to a new industrial policy, coupled with the complexities
of economic crisis, requires a moderate, carefully-planned and
controlled development. Thus, the official Government forecast for
growth in 1985 is 1.5 per cent; in 1986 and 1987, 4 per cent; and in
1988 to 1990, 4.5 per cent. Independarit forecasts made by the Chemical
Bank of New York give zero growth in 1985 while the Asian Wall
Street Journal projected Philippine growth at 0.7 per cent in 1985. This
forecast placed the Philippines as the country with the lowest growth in
1985 among Asian countries, compared with 6 per cent in Thailand, 5.1
per cent in Indonesia, 7.2 per cent in Korea, 6.5 per cent in Hong Kong,
7.4 per cent in Taiwan, and 7.6 per cent in Singapore.
The World Bank scenario for the Philippines gives at the highest a
4 per cent growth in 1985-1989 and 6 per cent in 1990. At the lowest, it
is 1.9 per cent in 1985-1989 and 3.5 per cent in 1990.
Low economic growth will lead to a very moderate increase in
Government expenditure. Given the greater concern for public account-
ability, expenditures in the public sector will be rigidly scrutinized. The
capability of the Government to support education will not be very
promising, and any increases in the education budget will be channelled
to phased development programmes. This means that most efforts at
reform will be pursued at elementary level and, correspondingly, this
level will be provided with the bigger share of resources allocation. The
Government will maintain this policy up to 1989.
Plans are being formulated to implement a development-oriented
secondary education by 1989-1990 and schedule its culmination in
1992-1993. Between now and 1993, higher education, will slowly be
aligned to government priority economic programmes, i.e. support
intended for an exceptionally few institutions with proven track records.
After 1993. however, higher education will hopefully receive greater
attention in terms of solid support from the Government.
But throughout this period, the demand for educational services
will be increasing, since the high period of population growth in the 70s
will be felt in higher education. The increasing participation and trar-

223
234
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

-**ion rates from elementary to secondary and from secondary to higher

,Jucation will lead tc an ever-increasing number of students in all levels
of education. At the same time, there will he a need for more produc-
tive manpower, and hence a need for greater training at all ages in
order that the country should be able to cope with the economic crisis
and attain its developmental targets.
The demand for educational services in quantitative terms is enor-
mous.

(a) Enrolment at elementary level will increase from the present 8

million to over 10 million in 1990.

(b) Enrolment at secondary level will increase from 3 million to over 4

million in 1990.

(c) Enrolment in tertiary will increase from 1.5 million to over 2

million in 1990.

Besides the increase in quantitative terms, there are pressures to

improve quality. The policy adopted to attain excellence is through
institutional autonomy and academic freedom.

224
2 r4f e-
't
10. Policy implications and coping with
the economic crisis

10.1 Policy implications

The focus of this chapter is to elucidate the usefulness of the data
generated and the conclusions arrived at. It was found that the
following were the eleven areas where the HELMS Report could make
some contribution:

10.1.1 Demand for higher education, curricular options and career

choice

It is quite evident from the HELMS data that the demand for higher
education is motivated by economic objectives. This dem.dni is
expressed in terms of the readiness of students to forego taking a full-
time job in favour of continuing education =nd the overwhelming
response of all students themselves that they are in college to upgrade
their economic status. The HELMS data can prcoide oarents, ^areer
guidance counsellors and the college-bound students themselves with
information on which to make a choice from the numerous curricular
offerings in a variety of educational institutions. Moreover, once
through with college, it is possible to make furher 4electicns as to the
occupation one may aim fnr in the economir sectors that would satisfy
one's economic objectives.

236 225
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

As shown in Chapter 8. if a high income is sought. one should

enrol in a law course at the most prestigious university. i.e. the
University of the Philippines. Since University of Philippines has very
rigid adm4;sion policies, an application might be made for admission to
the next most preferred educational institutions, i.e. Catholic colleges
and universities or foundation-type educational institutions. After the
University of Philippines law school, one might plan an administrative,
executive or managerial position in the economic sector that offers the
highest pay, i.e. finance, insurance, real estate or business services. If
law is not to the student's personal inclinations, the next most useful
degrees are engineering and technology, liberal arts and social sciences.
The second most well paid occupational option is a career in sales
perhaps in the preferred economic sector of construction, mining and
quarrying, etc.
Economic motives do not necessarily provide the greatest personal
or professional fulfillment. As shown by the survey, job satisfaction lies
in being able to attain self-fulfillment, to utilize one's talents, have good
employee relations, a secure future and better career prospects. A good
income ranks only seventh. It is possibly these elements of job satisfac-
tion that cause some graduates, especially those coming from proprie-
tary colleges not to exert greater drive toward the prestige and power
that money can give.

10.1.2 Inter-generational occupational and social mobility

Education contributes to social mobility, but when distribution of

educational opportunities at the higher level remains restricted to elites,
upward mobility of lower social groups is inhibited and education then
contributes, not only to the perpetuation of the social hierarchy but to
widening disparities between the higher and the lower social groups.
This is shown in the case of the Philippines in the analysis of the socio-
professional background of the graduates, where a larger proportion of
graduates come from higher social backgrounds. To achieve equality of
educational opportunity, special attention needs to be paid to the
weaker sections of sock y. This can be achieved by several means, for
example (a) by providing financial subsidies and by making the fee
paying system in institutions of higher education discriminatory i.e.
higher fees for richer students and lower fees for the poorer ones; (ii)

226

231
 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

by improving upon the career information system for the weaker

sections, and (c) by introducing a quota system for the deprived groups
in prestigious universities and disciplines, etc.
One positive aspect of the Filipino higher education system is the
higher proportion of females in the national higher education system.
The Philippines is one of the four countries of the world where sex
disparity has been eliminated at least quantitatively in the field of
higher education. However, this does not ensure a higher social
mobility in the world of work because the majority of the females are in
low paying/prestigious professions, e.g. teaching, nursing and clerical
and related professions.This leads us to the next item for policy.

10.1.3 Sex and income differentials

There is a clear income disadvantage for females in many fields, i.e. the
male has an :come advantage in all academic disciplines except in the
patently female professions, i.e. food, nutrition and dietetics and
surprisingly also in law and some liberal arts courses. If sex differentials
in income are to be minimized, this would mean some reforms in wage
and hiring policies. However, unless household responsibilities of the
female population are shared with their male counterparts, their role in
the world of work will remain low key and any reforms in wage policies
would not solve this problem.
Unemployment is more pronounced for the female graduates.
Marriage makes them less mobile in their search for work, but better
career counselling would allow female graduates to widen their job hori-
zons.
At the present time it would seem that some means should be
found to utilize these wasted resources of unemployed female graduates,
i.e. giving short further training, providing incentives to those who
could change their place of residence so as to create vacancies for others
who cannot.

10.1.4 Employment placement mechanisms

As discussed, the most effective employment placement mechanism in

the Philippines is personal relations. While there is some merit to this

227

238
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

kind of placement mechanism, it poses a disadvantage to those without

friends or relatives who are well-placed in society i.e. the lower groups.
It would help graduates immeasurably if a school-based placement
office, which maintains links with compan), placement officers, could be
established and made operational. A greater number of graduates
would then have access to a variety of employment possibilities. It has
been noted that many graduates do not exert enough effort to secure a
job. The college career counsellor must design a programme that would
enable graduates to have greater self confidence and more initiative in
looking for a job. They must be exposed to a variety of techniques in
job-seeking, including tips for job interviews and passing job recruit-
ment tests.

10.1.5 Voluntary unemployment and employment generation

Psacharopoulos and Sanyal (1981)20 suggested that HELMS data 1

provided some bases for considering unemployment of college graduates

in the Philippines as of a voluntary nature. Data in HELMS 11 rein-
force this contention especially the fact that almost half of those
searching for jobs have turned down offers for a variety of reasons.
The nature of the educated unemployeu in the Philippines is more of a
phenomenon of graduates still evaluating various job and career
options. However, when unemployment becomes persistent, and this
may be the case in the slow economy growth of the post-HELMS situ-
ation, then educated unemployment will be a serious problem.
It is not only the education sector that can be faulted for producing
so many graduates of uneven quality. That almost a million workers are
getting jobs overseas and many more are migrating pinpoints the
economic sector's inability to expand and absorb the increasing supply
of college graduates.

20 Op.cit.

228
239
 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

10.1.6 Educational mismatch

When a graduate is employed in a job not suited to his college speciali-

zation, this is called an educational mismatch, but this need not be
considered a negative commentary. As stated before, one should look
at this in the context of the economic condition of the country. Viewed
positively, it is more of a phenomenon of flexible educational
programmes coping with job demands that likewise exhibit flexibility.
Even in such a developed economy as Japan's there are instances of
college graduates being employed in jobs not requiring college degrees.
This is not something unique to developing economies.
Educational mismatch should not cause substantial concern. On
the contrary, curricular programmes should be such as to offer contin-
uing occupational flexibility. Job demands should likewise be enhanced
to accommodate the diverse academic bacl.grounds of college graduates.
The educational system should concentrate on producing graduates who
can adapt themselves to rapidly changing needs of jobs. In other words,
the education system should concentrate on imparting basic skills, while
specialization would take place on the job.

10.1.7 Agricultural development

The agricultural sector is the backbone of any economy. Due to its vital
role in accelerating development, it should be provided with all the
necessary talents to discharge its function. Unfortunately, there are less
students in higher education coming from this sector. While the
HELMS 11 data showed a positive sign of a slight increase of graduates
going to the agriculture sector, this is far from sufficient; the more so in
the light of the lack of income incentives in this sector.
A policy to recruit more students into higher education for the
agriculture sector must be formulated. Once recruited, incentives must
be provided for them to finish their degree, and a package of economic
incentives developed to retain graduates so that they can assist develop-
ment of agriculture.

229
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 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

10.1.8 Rates of return and educational programme subsidy

The data on the private rates of return discussed in Chapter 8 show why
higher education continues to be attractive. The private rates of return
of the graduates of the University of Philippines, in such curricular
programmes as law, engineering, etc., are high enough to make societal
intervention unnecessary. On the other hand, intervention is needed in
such socially desirable academic programmes as teacher education and
agriculture where the private rates of return are so low. Improvement
of the salaries of teachers and agriculture graduates is desirable and
societal concern must be expressed in more concrete forms like the
outlay of more resources for education.
Higher education in the hands of the private sector (about 85 per
cent of enrolment in higher education) should be provided with more
support because these private schools are definitely performing a social
function despite the very low rate of return.

10.1.9 Educational finance and higher education

In HELMS II, students and graduates cited lack of funding as a reason

for not being able to pursue preferred courses. The HELMS II data
further confirm the funding problem as a crucial element in dropping
out and interruptions which result in prolonged studies. Students who
drop out come from families with the lowest income and the 'tortoises'
are from families with the second lowest income. Access to more finan-
cial and learning resources would reduce drop outs and the extension of
the period of stay in college.
The funding problem is most acute in the private higher education
institutions. Governmert intervention or assistance is especially needed
by students pursuing programmes with high social values but with low
private rates of return. As mentioned before fint.ncial assistance should
be provided on a discriminating basispositively for lower social groups
and negativity for higher groups.

230
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 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

10.1.10 College placement and student streaming

We found that the students with better college preparation, as gauged

by their NCEE score, become not only successful students but also
employed graduates. Those with inferior academic preparation were
able to graduate but could not immediately find employment. College
dropouts were the worst prepared students.
A highly selective admission policy, such as practised in the
University of Philippines, prevents drop out. In the light of these data,
it is suggested that a systematic career counselling college placement
office or system be institutionalized. This would ensure that students
with the best academic preparation be streamed to highly demanding
academic programmes in equally demanding colleges. Students with
inferior academic preparation may be streamed to remedial courses or
to less challenging curricular programmes in colleges that have less
stringent standards of performance.

10.1.11 Curricular reform and the drive towards excellence

From the substantial number of graduates still searching for a job, one
may infer that there is an excess of supply. In a separate research report
on demand for and supply of manpower21 there is a more extended
treatment of the excessive supply of qualified manpower in the
Philippines. The situation is rather curious because there is a need 'or
high level manpower in the country to attain developmental objectives.
It would appear that the direction of change should be towards
improving productivity as well as the employability of manpower in the
labour market. The key is improving the quality of graduates. One
tool for this would be, as suggested, systematic college placement and
student streaming. At the institutional level, another would be a
systematic accreditation process and an institutiona' classification
system.
We have seen from the results of the HELMS surveys that the
University of Philippines is considered by students and employers to be
the centre of excellence, creaming off the students with the best NCEE

21 Arcelo A.. Higher Education, Labour Market and Manpower Planning in the
Philippines, Singapore. RIHED. 1983.

231

242
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

results and supplying the best paid graduates. Therefore what is needed
is a system to motivate other universities and colleges, distributed equit-
ably throughout the Philippines to strive to upgrade their services and
products to compete in quality with the University of Philippines. In
this regard, some of the experiences of other countries might be
adapted for utilization in the Philippines. For example, in India, a
beginning has been made to create centres of excellence22 i.e. university
departments become centres of advanced study and are given special
financial assistance. They receivo floating staff from other universities
for a certain period of time who will return and thus improve the
quality of their own universities. Such a system also promotes academic
mobility among institutions of higher learning.
In the United States six regional voluntary associations for univer-
sity accreditation (supported by annual fees of their member institu-
tions) draw on professors to compose committees to visit and evaluate
universities in a five year cycle. Such accrediting here is a form of pres-
sure on institutions that may hover on a low threshold of quality but a
more rigorous form could be adopted whereby grades could be awarded
to universities based on performance indicators. Some of the possible
indicators have been used in the HELMS surveys, i.e. degrees obtained,
quality of faculty and facilities, career performance of graduates etc.
As to the academic programmes and degree examinations them-
selves, the Ministries of Education in Italy and rance equate the work
of various institutions within a framework of state certified national
degrees. In the United Kingdom such a system takes the form of the
Council for National Academic Awards which gives national validity to
courses of study created and administered by local institutions. In a
number of countries surveys of universities are carried out giving infor-
mation to the public on the centres of excellence by discipline.
An institutional and academic programme classification system
would allow a better appreciation of the credentials of graduates and
reduce the problems found by employers in recruitment In addition,
the system would give the public, the funding agencies and private
philanthropists, a systematic method of resource allocation and chan-
nelling of support. Parents and college-bound students are likewise
helped by this classification system. The best qualified students would

22 University Grants Commission. Governance of Higher Fducanon in India and

the role of the UGC, draft report, New Delhi. 1985

23:
243
 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

know where to apply for admission and the kinds of academic

programmes or degrees being offered in the institution.
Commerce and business administration are always popular courses.
But medicine and engineering are catching up. What strategic interven-
tion may be applied to these programmes? A manpower forecast
(Arcelo: 1983)23 shows there will be a substantial surplus of commerce
and engineering graduates up to the year 2000. A brake has to be
applied to prevent a serious glut. Perhaps a policy may be issued to
discourage commerce and engineering colleges from expanding.
Parallel to this is a need for incentives to commerce and engineering
colleges planning to decrease enrolment. Guidance counsellors and
college-bound students should be informed of possible excess supply in
these programmes to discourage enrolment.
As far as medicine is concerned, it is desirable to link training to
the needs of the country, especially with respect to the rural areas
where doctors are badly needed. The focus of training must be on
common tropical diseases, the health needs of the poor, the disadvan-
taged and the cultural communities. Besided the skills, medical students
must internalize a missionary zeal for service to the truly needy.

10.2 Coping with economic crisis

The effects of the economic crisis after the HELMS survey in 1981,
have been so pervasive as to make some of the HELMS findings out of
date especially on the employability of graduates, thz income level,
waiting period, etc.
Taking into account the analysis in Chapter 8, the closure of many
companies and massive lay-off of workers, one may ask what is the
future of the graduates in 1985 and following years of very slow
recovery. To answer this question requires a closer focus and an
in-depth analysis of the opportunities presented by the environment. In
spite of the economic crisis, there may still be sunrise industries and
college graduates must be on the look-out for better opportunities. The
promising sectors are agriculture, agri-based industries and electronics.
Inci,...tries that produce non-traditional export items should be seriously
considered for they have a potential for expansion closer university,

23 Op.cit

233

244
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

industry co-operation is very much needed to face this situation.

Education prepares students not only for employment in business
and industry but also for self-employment. In the light of so many
closures of manufacturing concerns, self-employment may be a strategy
to cope with the crisis. The entrepreneurial spirit needs to be harnessed
and every talent marshalled in this direction.

10.3 Concluding remarks

The 11 policy areas of concern, and the suggestions for coping with the
economic are some of the possibilities for the HELMS findings to
be of value to the college-bound population, parents, the educational
system and the policy makers. The operationalization of some of them
should lead to the successful implementation of programmes and
projects geared toward an economic recovery with beneficial social
results. The role of educationthe right educationcannot be unders-
tated.

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 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

Appendix A
QUESTIONNAIRE
HIGHER EDUCATION AND LABOR MARKET SURVEY
TRACER STUDY
(Information collected will NO
kept in strict confidence

Inteiewers
ry Place of Interviews

Data of Interviews
Time of Interviews Starts_ End:

I. PERSONAL DATA

1. Maws
(family name) (first name) (aiddle name)

2. Address,
(no., street, municipality, city, province)

8. TelePholi 00.1

4. Civil Status, 1 Z:7 Single 3 L7 Widowed

2 t:, Married 4 0 Legally Separated

5. Sex: 1 Z:7 Melt 2 Z:7 Easels

is Age (as of last birthday):

7. Citizenships

8. If you are marrieds

8.1 Age of spouse
8.2 Educational attainment of your spouse

Major if
8.3 spouse's occupation and industry mining, manufacturing, etc.rf-
Occupations
Industry:
Use occupation and industry classifications listed
in 4 indices A t 8)
8.4 Spouse's spproximste gross monthly income?
(before tax deductions) P
8.5 Number of children
Boys Girls Total
State their oleos

9.1 Parent's highest educational attainment.

Father
Mother

9.2 Parent's occupation and industry.

Father Mother
Occupations
Industry:
(Use the occupation and i Autry classifications listed in
Appendices A t 8)
9.3 Parent's approximate gross monthly income (before tax deductions).
Esther: r
Mothers P

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246
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

II. education and training

10. Idneetional background

ss Level Name of School : Address : Degree/Cers Year ObY s Honors s

: Wiest* s tamed s

Voc./Tech. :

: College
S

Grad. Studies

11. Statue of college studies

1 still studying (proceed to question 12)
2 discontinued stud ,i (proceed to question 13)
3 finished bachelor degree (proceed to question 14)

12. Rank the relevant reasons for still continuing studies.

(Indica d the rank of each using 1 as the most relevant reason).
Due to part -tine job
Due to full-time job
Academic reasons
Financial
Marriage
Study interruption
Others (specif))
(Proceed to question 19)

13. Rank the relevant reasons for discontinuance of studies.

(Indicate the rank of each using 1 cs the most relevant reason).

Financial reasons
Due to part-time work
Due to full-time work
Health
Interest
Physical environment of the school
Merriage
Others (specify)
(Proceed to quest-GMT--
14. Is the course you finished, the course you really wanted to Mko7

1 L:7 Yea (Proceed to a) 2 1:7 No (Proceed to b)

a. If yes, rank the collowing factors which prompted you to choose

this course. (Indicate the rank of each using 1 as the most
relevant factor).

0 TM course promised Ecod employment opportunities

The course gives wide choice of
future da rrrrr
The course gives social prestige
Influenced by fee:Ws
Influenced by members of the family and relatives
Others (specify)
(Proceed to question 15)

236
247
 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

b. If no, tank the following reasons which prompted you to choose

this course. (Indicate the rank of each using 1 as the most
relevant reason)

Lack of financing
Parents prefaced this course
Academic performance in the past not satisfactory
Simply changed your mind
Others (specify)

13. How do you e your performance in college/

1 poor (Below 75%)

2 below average ( 75 - 797.)
3 ge ( 00 - 85%)
4 above average ( 86 - 94%)
5 excellent (95 6 above)

16. Now do you assess the quality of education you obtained with
respect to:

Barely Very
Inadequate Adequate Adequate 111511 Inaba
a. content of
instruction 1 0 2 4:7 3 5 4 0 5 4.:7

b. method of
instruction 1Z:7 2 (.7 3 £7 4 0 30
17. Aside from yur formal education, did you have any other vocational/
tecbsical/craft/in-service training?

1C Yes (Proceed to question 18) 2 0 N. (Proceed to question 16)

18. If yes, please fill ih the following table:

Couree/Natoe
Institution/Ageacy ' No. of '
s of Training ,
which conducted ' Place ' Date :training:
, Program
the training hours

: 1.

2.

4.

19. Are you employed at present?

1 7 Yes (rroCc,o to question 20) 2C No (Proceed tr qeation 44)

248 237
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

III. lftBkovleat Particulars

20. Are you the sole breadearner of your housabold?

la Yes 2 Ci tlo

21. State the name and address 11 the firm/organisation

are employeds in which you

Imployars
Address
Telephone ho.c

22. IS this firm/organizrtian.

1 National eaversz.nt
2 Provincial gove.,cent
3 Local ovcrrnicnticitY
4 Government controlled corporation
5 Private torpor tion
6 Prioate partn,rship
7 Privet single proprietorship
23. What is your present occup.tional/industrial
classification?
a. Occupational Classa.s,ations

b. Industrial Classafic.tion:
(WE the occupation am industry classifications
listed in llo...ndices A and 5).

24. What is your present average monthly salary

before tax deduction?
P

25. Now long is your regular working hours

(occluding overtime)
'et week? hrs.

26. Are you actively looking for another job?

1 C Yes (Proceed to question 27)

2 EY No (Proceed to question 28)
27. lank the relevant reasons for actively
looking for another job.
(Indicate the rank of each using 1 as the most relevant reason).

IBetter pay
Better use of training
Better prospects for promotion
More suited to personal talents
Better working conditions
Work within vicinity of residence
Opportunity to study
Opportunity to travel
More time for family an's hobbies
Opportunity to supervise others
Others (specify)

25. Do you have oth4r sources 01 eccnoc

1 L:7 its (Proceed to question 21) 2 /-7 No (Proceed to question. 30)

238
249
 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

If yes, indicate the nature :n. approximate monthly income before

tax deductions.

:Approximate '

'monthly in- :
: Kind/Nature : Neat of Wopary Address
'come before
of Job : Institution :
'tax deduc-
4
tions

30. Is this your first cploymenti

1 Yes (Oroctco to question 32) 2 No (Proceed to question 31)

31. If no, please list t:own yo.: previous work experience:

' Position cr Official ! Inclusi:e an:' ^4dress

s 244°) Monthl-
' Designation : years of of Establish- salary'
employn_nt went

: 1.

: 2.

: 3.
ll

:3.

32. How long did it take you to land your first job after graduation/
(If you were a working student, please proceed to question 34).

a. After finishing your course

Years Months Weeks

b. After actively looking for work

Years Months Weeks

33. If you thine it took you t.,o lont, to find a job after lookim;
for one, rank in your judgment the re:son(s) for this delay/
(Indicate the rank of eac. acing 1 as the most relevant reason).

salary osfer to low

corking coadition rot satisfactory
G o,,,ortunity fo. odvaocement
.

job too far froo him

no Job opportunit:cs

239

250
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

34. Indicate the degree of impotence of tae iJ11 lug factors in

helping you get your firs: job.

barely Ixtra
int In- I *oft- Very far ordinarily
plata ant Ivortelit portanc important
a. through scnool
placement
office 1/7 2//7 3L/ 4 /7 5L7
b. government
employment
office 1 / / 1a 3 /7 4 Z:7 5 1:7
c. sidle adver-
tising 1 a 1/7 3// 4 Q s

d. recommendations
from former
teachers/it/true-
tors 1a 2 Ci 3L7 4 /77 5 a
e. recommendations
from relatives/
friends 1 L:7 2a 3a 4a 5a
f. personsl office
of the hiring
company 1 a 2 L7 3 /-7 4 a 5 a
g. Others (specify)
2 E7 2 1:7 3 a 4 a 5 a
35. Which field did 36. Which field is
you specialize in the most relevant
in your highest to your current
qualification/ job/

C461114TCt and business 01 01

Economics 02 02
Engineering 03 03
Vocational -Technological Education 04
Mathematics 05 05
Physical Science 06 06
Nautical Science 07 07
Teacher Education 08 08
Home Economdcs 09 04
Medicine 10 10
Dentistry 11 11
Veterinary hedicine 12 12
Nursing 1: 13
Medical technology 14 14
Nutrition and Dietetics [. 13 15
Low 16 16
Foreign Service 17 17
Music and Fine Arts 18 18
Agriculture 19 19
Fisheries __4 20 20
Humanities 21 21
Mass Communication
Languages
Social Sciences (Miat..), foiltic.1
c_4 12
/ / 23 / 22
.

Science, Anthropolow. SociolGgi,

Psychology, eec.) [7.7 24 a 24

240 251
 Policy imalications and coping with the economic crisis

37. To whet extent do you think was your qualifications

necessary for getting your present job?

1 Not net ary

2 Barely necessary
3 Necessary
4 Very necessary
5 Extra ordinarily necessary

38. Do you find your formal training In school es shown In number 10

useful In relation to the needs of your present job?

1 hot ne
2 Barely necessary
3 Necessary
4 Very necessary
5 Extra ordinarily necessary

39. Do you find year trelnimg as shown In number 18 useful In relation

to the needs of your present job?

1 Not necessary
2 Barely necessary
3 Necessary
4 Very necessary
3 Extra ordinarily necessary

40. Which ona !s nore useful as far as your present job is concerned?

1 Formal training In question 10 more useful than question 18

Training In question 0 more useful than In question 10
2
3 g Formal training In question 10 Is equally useful as
training In number 18
4 a Cannot ray

41. Are you satisfied with your present job?

1 0 Yes (Proceed to question 43)

2 No (Proceed to qaestion 42)

42. Rank the relevant reasons for your dissatisfaction?

(Indicate the rank A each using 1 is the most relevant reason).

poor working condition

unable to apply school training
gent prospects for promotion
not suited to personal objectives
not enough opportunities for self-fulfillment
cannot get Along well with co-workers
others (specify)
(Proceed to question 47)

252
241
 Employment and career upportunrucs after graduation

43. Why are you satisfied with your present job? (Indicate the degree
of impottance of the following factors).

balely Extra
Not In- Import- Very 1w- ordinarily
ar142!. ant

e. able to uti-
lize talents 1 /-7 2 /-7 3 /-7 4/7 3 a
b. scholarship
opportunities 1/% , 7 3 /7 4 r7 5 /7
c. good ir.CCC* 1 7 :a 3 /-7 4 a 3 a
d. good praspect
for career
advancement
promotion 1£7 2a 3a .7 5a
e. opportunity
to travel 1 i:7 2 a 3 a 4 0 s1.:7

f. ample tees off

for family and
tabbies 2 a 2 /7 3 a 4 a a
S. self-fulfillmentl zy 2 a 3 a 4 zy 50
h. offers secure
future 1 a 2 /7 3 a 4 a 5 a
.. good employee
relationships 1 L7 2 a 3 a 4 a 5 a
j. others (specify)
1a 2 /7 3 /7 4a sa
(Proceed to question 47)

44. Are you actively looking for a job right now?

1 z:7 Yes (Proceed to question 45) 2 zy So (Proceed to question 46)

45. If yes, how?

46. hank the relevant reasons for your being unemployed.

(Indicate the rank of each ueeng 1 as the most relevant reason).

No job opening it my field of spe ialization

ho connections
The college where I st.died is not prestigious
No interest en getting is job
Family situsteon prevents me from working
No job openings within the vicinity of my residence
No job openings for anyone
Lack of professional eligibility requirements
(board exam., cevil .ervice elegibetety, bar, etc.)
43 Inadequate experience
Starteng pay is too 1,
Lf Other: (spe,f10

47, Hays you refused may job offer?

la Yes (Proceed to question 48) 2 zy No (Proceed to question 411)

242
253
 Policy implications and coping with the economic crisis

48. If yeas rank the relevant reason for refusing the job offer(s)7
(Indicate the reek of each win{ 1 es nee most relevant reason).

Ike salary was too low

Did not like the Mad of job
',.., tow field of spacialleatfant
4 far frowsy reekkamw
Panetta prevented as from taking the job
11/ &thu (specify)
all. Please give your address and telephone number Awry you can be
contacted for future reference.

/Adresse

Telephoto No.

Occupational nassification

1. Professional. Technical and Related Workers

1.1 Physical. Socirl, .ad ..fe Scientists end Related Technicians
1.2 architects, Egineirs, Mathemetitians and Related Technicians
1.3 Medical, Dental, :cae:iiary and Related Workers
1.4 Civello., lewfarning :ne Related Artists
1.5 Accoentlne .n.d Auditors
1.6 Teacher:, lid F]diCia ,.elision
1.7 Attlee.., :pcitsmen Alb. Peted ,corkers
1.8 Sociaa .,ientiats, Mather:Amiens, Symtms Analysts and Related
Work-Ts

2. administrative. Lxecuti.. and Managerial Workers

2.1 Legislztive .ffic.als, Government administrators and Executives
2.2 Manor.:

3. Clerical and kelat.d Workers

3.1 Secrec:cem, a.ckeepers, Cashiers, and Related Workers
3.2 Camputin, M.chine Ore:ators
3.3 Transport and emsunicatian Clarks, Messengers, Operators,
Conduct.rs and ne.aeeJ ,rockers

4. Sales Writers
4.1 Managers and Sapervisors (wholesale and retail)
4.2 Technic:1 salesmen, Traveling Salesmen and Manufacturer's Agents
4.3 lniuranca, Real Estate, Securities and Business Services.
Salezmn and AUCtauOti

5. Sera ace 4orkcis

5.1 Catering and Lodging Managers and Related Workers

5.2 Buildinb Caretaker:, launderers, Beauticians, and Related
.arkar:
5,3 Preteati Service Workers (Policemen, Fire flOters, etc.)
6. .rieulturs1.sa.1:1 h.sbandry and Fcrestry Workers, F1shermen and
Hunters

7, :nd Related %urkars, Transport Equipment Operators

and laborers
7.1 mintrs, Quarrying, Metal Pro: Well Drillers, and
Related Workers
7.2 Void Preparation Workers and Paper Makers
7,3 Fend and Beecrage Processors
7,4 Tailors, Dressmakers, :ewers, Upholsterers 4041 Footwear Makers
7.5 Electricians, Eroadeeztin5 Station aria Sound Equipment Operators
7.6 Construction Vorkers, Painters, Glass Formers and Related
barkers

6. Members of th. .rrmd Forces

254 243
 Employment and career opportunities after graduation

I ml.sstrio1 1ass.iscation

1. As:1:ultara, Lisherune :ertstry

1.1 Agricultural Crcpa Proluctian
1.2 Prodction of Poultry and Other Animals
1.3 Agricultural service,
1.4 Fishery: ifiehore, units' ens inland fishing; operation of fish farms
1.5 Fol,stly. ,perotions i.4 other Forestry Activities
1.6 Plitihs 004 tame Propagation

2.

2.1 c "fag and (0..orrying

3. Manuiectu.an,
3.1 Manufacture of i.04 3ev.rages and tobacco
3.1 Textile, 4eaving Appati and Lather Industries
3.3 h4nufacture rf W,Ad and wao.1 Products
3.4 Manufl,tuze of Pacer and Paper Products: Printing and
Publishin6
3.3 Manufacture ,f Chemicais and of Chemical, Petroleum, Coal,
Rubber mu: Plastic Products
3.6 Manufacture ran - metallic Minced. Products
3.7 Manufacture of Baste Metal Industries
3.8 Menufacturc of fabricated Metal Products. Machinery and
Equipment

4. Electricity. Gas :Lod dater

4.1 Generating rrd ,Istributing Electricity
4.2 Gas runutacture and distribution through systems
4.3 Steam heat and ,,over plants
4.4 water vorVs and supply

5. Conttructien
5.1 General Building Leastruction
5.2 General Entineerinb Construction
3.3 Special Trade Construction

6. Wholesale and Retail Trade

Trenspo+tation. Storey end Communication

7.1 Transportation Services
7.2 Storage and Worinousing
7.3 Cemetvnication: Mail and exp sssss Telephone. etc.

8. Finencinmi Insurance. Reel istzte and Business Services

8.1 Banking Institutions
8.2 Financial Intermediaries
8.3 Life and Non-life Insurance Companies
8.4 Real Est -:e Development Zompinies
8.3 Professional Business Services
8.6 Advertising ;invites
8.7 Machinery end Equipment Renting and ..easing

9. Coesnunity_, Social and PeisorAl Services

9.1 Public hdoinistratnon ..n,! it, tense
9.2 Sanitary and ScVAC4:
9.3 Education Services
9.4 Medical, Dental, me..1t, and Veterinary Services
9.5 Restaurant ern Hotels
9.4 it/creational .nd Clatura. vcr ices
9.7 Persorul ane yoischko vcrvxc s

244
255
IIEP Research Report No.61

What are the problems encountered by the higher education

graduates of the Philippines in obtaining employment? What factors
contribute to obtain:ng employment? How has the phenomenon of
transition of graduates evolved during the recent past? What forces
influence the behaviour of the unemployment market? How do the
content and structure of education respond to the problem of educational
unemployment? What are the causes of graduate unemployment?

Based on a cohort of 1,284 students and a longitudinal study over

time, the present report attempts to answer the above questions.

The authors

Professor Adriano Arcelo is the "ice- President of the Fund for

Assist-.nce to Private Education, Manila, Philippines.

Dr. Bikas C. Sanyal has been a taf!' member of the IIEP since 1969,
previous to which he organized and administered a Residential Honours
College in India (1960-66) and was a member of the Faculty of Iowa
State University, USA, (1966-69). Responsible for the IIEP research
programme on higher education and employment, he has co-authored
several studies on this subject.

256