THE MOUNTAINEER

Congratulations graduates! (Part 2)
EDISON L. BADDAL

The graduates of 2008 are considered lucky as they are ushered into the real world at this time when the country is being touted to be on the road to economic recovery. This is being underscored against the backdrop of a political milieu that continues to sizzle with the government in a constant tussle with the opposition whose squawking mugwumps are always belittling the government’s achievements.

The opposing stances seem to hold nothing much for the graduates of the year as in reality they will be joining the ranks of the unemployed. According to statistics, there is an increase in unemployment even with the much-ballyhooed high growth rate that the economy achieved for the last year.

Generally, the growth failed to create jobs for the labor force.In the Cordillera, the National Statistics Coordinating Board declared that the number of poor families increased from 72,040 in 2003 to 87,050 in 2006. The survey likewise indicated that 28.8 percent of the region’s total number of families is considered poor -- a clear increase from the 25.8 percent.

On the other hand, the National Statistical Coordination Board in its latest survey showed that whereas the GDP growth is registered at an average of 5.4 percent between 2003 and 2006, some 700,000 families officially joined the ranks of the poor in 2006.

Hence, the number of families officially classified as poor increased from 4 million in 2003 to 4.7 million in 2006. In effect, the number of individual Filipinos, who are considered poor increased from 23.8 million in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006.

That is as far as the poverty threshold is concerned wherein a family of five earns less than 6,274 pesos a month for basic necessities like food, shelter, health and education. The NEDA defines “poverty thresholed” as the computed amount needed by a person or family in order to meet basic food and non-food needs. Conclusively, poverty can thrive even in the midst of economic growth due to many variables.
In terms of food threshold, the same survey showed that the number of families who are considered “food-poor” due to their inability to earn enough to satisfy basic nutritional requirements increased from 1.7 million in 2003 to 1.9 million in 2006. Basically,that is about 12.2 million Filipinos or 14.6 percent of the population.

The NEDA attributed the increase in the number of poor Filipinos to the increase in prices of basic commodities and the insufficient increase in personal income to match such increases in basic commodities which increases every now and then with no record of having gone down in recent past.

Also, it is presumed that the economic growth is not that high enough to improve quality of life of the poor even as it failed to match the continued population growth thus making economic growth beneficial only to selected sectors. Conversely, the increase in the number of poor Filipinos could have come from middle income Filipinos whose businesses flopped starting from the Asian financial influenza in 1997. But with the number of poor increasing the incomes of the rich are doubling and are getting richer at the expense of the poor.

The cold, grim statistics should have nothing to do with the hopes and dreams of the graduates, I mean the college graduates, who with the degrees earned, are surely mulling to lead separate and independent lives from their parents.

After all, earning a degree is among others one of the things that bridges the gap between success and failure. And it is a truism that having a degree facilitates one’s entry into the world of collar jobs which does not require much physical energy but technical skills and mental exertions.

Though a big slice of the economic pie is skewed to the big time capitalists, the graduates could opt to engage in entrepreneurship as a micro-entrepreneur if they have the gumption, much less the flair for business. Self-employment is the best employment that one could engage in as it does not require good relations with a supervisor and colleagues which is true in a company or office work.

Or as Filipinos are becoming global citizens and workers what with estimated 250,000 filipinos leaving the country daily for greener pastures abroad, they could opt to seek jobs abroad as the economy cannot provide enough jobs that match their technical skills and qualifications.

So that instead of being underemployed or unemployed in one’s village, the graduates could be employed abroad even in menial jobs which helps in no small way the economy, their families and their country.

Hailed as unsung modern heroes for nothing, the billions in remittances being sent by more than 8,000 million Filipino migrant workers abroad is propping up the economy as they are of the dollar reserves which the country uses to pay its import and other foreign obligations.

Here’s wishing that the year’s graduates be the best of whatever they will become.
Take heart, yuppies, for the future is bright though the present prospects are dim. Consider these lines from an anonymous author which is timely and befitting for the graduates:

“With doubt and dismay you are smitten, You think there’s no chance for you, son? Why, the best race hasn’t been run. The best article hasn’t been written. The best score hasn’t been made yet,

The best song hasn’t been sung. The best tune hasn’t been played yet. Cheer, for the world is still young! Congratulations to the graduates of 2008! Cheers to your success!