The Unemployment Situation

My name’s Dennis, currently unemployed. I’m a former online English teacher. I have worked for several Korean companies for two and a half years until I decided that this is not going to be the job that I will grow old with.

Being an online English teacher entails a lot of patience, as you are going to teach English to people of different language and culture. You’ll encounter some problems like language and cultural barriers that sometimes would lead to misunderstanding during our class,specially if you’re dealing with a student who does not have any knowledge or zero ability in speaking the English language.

During my previous teaching engagement, our classes are composed of 10 minutes class and 20 minute class. Most of my classes are 10 minute class. So our call time to be i the office should be at 4:45am Philippine time. If you arrived later than 4:45am you will be considered late as a result would lead to memos, salary deduction,even suspension if you frequently arrive late; or you get fired because of habitual tardiness. Then at exactly 5:00am (6:00am Korean time as Korea is an hour ahead of Philippines) you have to call your student at that exact time no more no less (Koreans are very particular with time.)

Now the problem here is, most teachers in the morning shift were I belong have to endure strings of classes, teachers in our company would call this ‘marathon classes’ at these times you won’t be able to have time to go to the bathroom as classes are continuous, nonstop. So, if you have 6 straight classes, 10 minutes multiplied by six classes that means you have one hour of talking nonstop not unless one of your student at that time block does not respond to your call. If you’re student gets too talkative, most likely you’re going to be late for your next class.

That was my daily routine for almost six months until I decided that I had enough. I did not care about what’s in store for me after my resignation. I never expected that I would spent more time looking for a job. For 4 months after my resignation, I’ve applied to every call center I know here in Manila but luck seems to be not at my side. In other words, I’ve become one of millions of Filipinos who belong to the group of unemployed.

According to a recent study by the Ibon Foundation, an independent organization,the number of unemployed Filipinos has reached to 4.3 million based on data collected in January 2009. Though at that time I did not yet belong in this category. The reason for the rising number of jobless Filipinos is caused by both the global financial crisis and the weakness in the domestic economy which is stagnating and incapable of generating new jobs.

Trade policies have favored the export sector to the detriment of domestic consumption, aggravating the tenor of the crisis. According to projections, the worst is yet to come, and the number of people without jobs is destined to increase.

The document from the Ibon Foundation also emphasizes some differences compared to the official figures provided by the government: Manila says their are 180,000 new unemployed, for a total of 2.9 million. The actual rate, the experts of Ibon reply, is not 7.7%, but “at least 11.2%.” To the more than 4 million unemployed must be added 6.2 million people who are underemployed or looking for a better paying job. The total number of Filipinos who are unemployed or without a steady job is 10.6 million, out of a total population just above 88 million.

The sector hardest hit by the crisis is the manufacturing industry, with a loss of 122,000 jobs compared to 2008. 39,000 jobs have been vut in the construction industry, and 28,000 in the financial information sector.

Life has been hard these days, right now I’m helping my mother manage a small food business selling beef mami noodles and lugaw in our neighborhood to make both ends meet and I’m still searching for a decent job that would provide me with professional and financial growth but I’m still hoping that in God’s time I would be able to find a perfect job for me.