Republic of the Philippines 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
Nineteenth Congress 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _________ 
__________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by Honorable Mark O. Go 
__________________________________________________________________ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
According to the latest figures released by the PSA, unemployment in the country is 
slowly stabilizing, falling down to 5.8% in March from 6.4% in both January and February of 
this year.  
PSA data also shows that of the country’s unemployed, 26.7% are actually college 
graduates, 39.5% are either undergraduate or graduate of junior high school or the old 
curriculum, and 3.8% are senior high school graduates. 
With the adoption and implementation of the K-12 system, we hoped to train our 
learners, particularly those enrolled under the technical-vocational strand, such that they will 
already be job ready by the time they graduate from senior high school. Actual figures 
however show that the country’s unemployed is in fact composed mostly of the educated 
sector. 
Job-skills mismatch has been one of our long-time challenges in developing the 
country’s employment situation and in optimizing the skills, talents, and competencies of our 
working class. It also is a crucial concern in the proper utilization of the country’s budget that 
goes into the education sector. Education and employment maintain a very intimate 
relationship. Particularly with the policy of universal education access to free tertiary 
education, it is imperative that the country ensures that the education system timely and 
adequately responds to the changing demands of industries and the labor market.  
In 2016 the Philippine Institute of Development Studies released a study entitled, Are 
Higher Education Institutions Responsive to Changes in the Labor Market. The results of the 
study show that there is shortage in college graduates in the fast-growing service sectors. 
According to the study, our education curriculum in no longer responsive to the demands of 
industries and businesses operating in this global economy, and as a result, our graduates are 
unable to land jobs and occupations in line with the degrees they finished. As observed in the 
study, CHED has consistently encouraged incoming students to enroll in courses like 
agriculture, engineering, science and math, IT, teacher education, and health sciences. 
However, can be observed that in reality, 1 in 4 college graduates finishes a degree in 
Business Administration. Meanwhile, only 3% of graduates studied agriculture. A study 
July 1, 2022 
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conducted by the International Labor Organisation on the labor sector in our country, even 
shows that as an individual receives higher education, or gain more skills, he tends to prefer 
to remain unemployed rather than take up just any kind of employment. 
According to a separate study of PIDS, there are four observed difficulties in 
producing the appropriate manpower and skills. First, there is no one-to-one correspondence 
between courses and jobs, such that an engineer’s involvement in an enterprise is not 
constrained to the stages of production only, but he can also be part of management. The 
second observation is that current indicators are not specific enough. Unemployment rate 
alone is a very crude measure. Skills and competencies of the people, their reasons for not 
landing jobs, and the demands of the industries that prevail must also be considered. Third 
observation is the rapid change in technology. The pace by which new technologies, and new 
methodologies, are being developed is unprecedented. According to the PIDS, in many cases, 
by the time students graduate, half of what they learned in school is already obsolete. Fourth 
and last is skill production lag. In order to keep applicants abreast with up-to-date and 
relevant skills and competencies, they would need to undergo continuous trainings and 
learning programs, and these require adequate time and resources.  
Furthermore, with the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the labor 
market consequently is bound to evolve, and will require skills and competencies different 
from the demands of today. A study from employment platform LinkedIn shows that an 
average of 71 percent of the total task across 12 industry sectors was performed by humans 
back in 2018, this figure however is expected to be reduced to just 58 percent in 2022 
because of the technological breakthrough. Consistent with this finding, a study from 
Mckinsey Quartely showed that currently demonstrated technologies could automate 45 
percent of the activities people are now paid to perform. 
In order to address these observations, this bill seeks to create a Tripartite Council 
composed of representatives from the government, academe and industry sector that will 
formulate and implement policies and relevant programs specific to job-skills mismatch. 
Creating a multi-sectoral council will allow educational institutions a better understanding of 
the labor market. This will help identify where the jobs are, and what skills and competencies 
are required to fill these vacancies. It would focus not only in ensuring that graduates were 
able to land jobs, but more so on whether they were able to truly utilize their particular set of 
skills and competencies. It would help the country identify the specific industry needs in 
terms of manpower requirements, and develop policies that would direct the youth towards 
these fields of study and profession. There must be established open and continuous 
communication lines between learning institutions and the business sector in order to sustain 
a mutually edifying symbiotic relationship between them. The synergy created would 
hopefully yield updated curricula, development of standards and industry practices, and 
increased productivity among others.  
In view of the foregoing, the approval of this measure is earnestly sought, 
MARK O. GO 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
Nineteenth Congress 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No._____ 
_____________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by Hon. Mark O. Go 
_____________________________________________________________________ 
AN ACT  
CREATING A TRIPARTITE COUNCIL TO ADDRESS THE  JOB-SKILLS 
MISMATCH, 
UNEMPLOYMENT, 
AND 
UNDEREMPLOYMENT 
IN 
THE 
COUNTRY, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1.  Declaration of Policy. – It is declared the policy of the State to 
promote the sustained development of  a skilled citizenry and maintain a   reservoir of 
national talents consisting of Filipino scientists, entrepreneurs, professionals, managers, high-
level technical manpower, and skilled workers and craftsmen in all fields. 
Skills 
development can reduce unemployment and underemployment, increase productivity, and 
improve the standards of living. 
To this end, the State shall ensure the relevance and adequacy of academic courses   
in the higher education curriculum and training programs offered in technical-vocational 
institutions in relation to the needs and requirements of the business and industry sectors and 
the over-all human resource requirement of the country pursuant to its economic development 
goals.  
SEC. 2. Creation of a Tripartite Council. -  There is hereby established a Tripartite 
Council, hereinafter referred to as the Council, that shall formulate policies and programs to 
address the job-skills mismatch in the country. It shall be a coordinating body among the 
government, academe and industry sectors to primarily monitor economic trends in the global 
and domestic markets, including those pertaining to business and commerce and the local 
labor market, and to generate information relative to employment, unemployment, 
underemployment, and job-skills mismatch.    
The Council shall be attached to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for 
administrative and budgetary purposes. 
The Council shall be chaired by a CHED Commissioner while the Technical 
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Deputy Director-General shall sit as 
Vice Chairperson. Its members shall be composed of representatives from the government, 
academe and industry sectors.   
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The government representatives shall be composed of the following: CHED 
Commissioners; Deputy Director-General of the TESDA; and Undersecretaries of the 
Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the 
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).  
 
The representatives of the academe shall be the presidents of the federations of public 
and private higher education institutions (HEIs), public and private technical-vocational 
institutions (TVIs), and accreditation bodies of higher and technical-vocational educational 
institutions, which include the following: Philippine Association of State Colleges and 
Universities; Association of Local Colleges and Universities; Coordinating Council of Private 
Educational Associations; Technical-Vocational Schools and Associations of the Philippines; 
National Network of Quality Assurance Agencies; and the Federation of Accrediting 
Agencies of the Philippines,  among others. 
  
 
The representatives of the industry sector shall be the presidents of the following 
business and industry federations: Employers Confederation of the Philippines; Makati 
Business Club; Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, 
Incorporated; Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines; 
Philippine Business for Education; Management Association of the Philippines; Philippine 
Business for Social Progress; and the People Management Association of the Philippines. 
 
The members of the Council, except for the ex officio members, shall receive per diem 
every meeting in accordance with existing rules and regulations.  
 
The CHED shall provide a secretariat to the Council to be manned by the organic 
personnel of the CHED and may be augmented by the employees from the member-agencies 
of the Council through detail or secondment. 
 
 
 
SEC. 3.   Powers and Functions of the Council. – The Council shall have the 
following specific powers and functions: 
 
a) Monitor the trends in the labor market, both domestic and international, and the issues 
surrounding it, such as unemployment, underemployment and job-skills mismatch in 
the country; 
 
b) Formulate and implement short-term and long-term policies, plans and programs that 
shall address job-skills mismatch, unemployment, and underemployment; 
 
c) Conduct an inventory, review and evaluation of courses, academic programs and 
curricula of public and private HEIs and training programs in TVIs; 
 
d) Conduct an assessment of qualifications, skills and competencies of students and 
graduates of higher education courses and  technical-vocational education and training 
or TVET; 
 
e) Conduct an inventory of job specifications and skills requirement of various 
industries;  
 


 
 
 
 
 
f) Recommend to the President of the Philippines, Congress and other government 
institutions policy measures that need to be undertaken in addressing the problems of 
unemployment,  underemployment and job-skills mismatch;  
 
g) Hold regular quarterly meetings; and 
 
h) Perform such other functions as may be necessary for its effective operation to 
achieve the mandate of this Act. 
 
SEC. 4. Annual Report and Assessment. – The Council shall issue its annual report 
containing the status of employment of college students and new graduates, as well as an 
assessment  of the trends in the labor market and the skills required by the various industries 
and business establishments. 
SEC. 5. Appropriations. – The amount necessary for the implementation of this Act 
shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act. 
 
SEC. 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within ninety (90) days after the 
effectivity of this Act, the CHED shall, in coordination with the TESDA, DepEd, DTI and 
DOLE, as well as other education stakeholders, issue the necessary rules and regulations for 
the effective implementation of this Act.  
 
SEC. 7.  Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any portion or provision of this Act 
shall be held unconstitutional or invalid, the remaining provisions not affected thereby shall 
continue to be in full force and effect.  
 
SEC. 8.  Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, rules 
and regulations, issuances or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with the provisions of this 
Act, are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly. 
 
SEC.  9.  Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication 
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.   
 
Approved,