LET’S SEPARATE DATA FOR MISEMPLOYMENT

LET’S SEPARATE DATA FOR MISEMPLOYMENT

In our public discourse and in labor policy discussions, we often reference terms like “underemployment” and “skills mismatch” as if they were interchangeable. But I’d like to propose a fresh—albeit uncomfortable—distinction: the concept of misemployment. It’s time we pull it out of the shadows and talk about it.

What is misemployment, anyway?
In simplest terms, misemployment happens when a person’s skills, time or resources are put to work in ways that are inefficient, inappropriate, or even harmful to the individual or to society. It’s broader than underemployment (which tends to mean “needs more work” or “less hours than desired”) and includes the mis­use of talent and the misallocation of labor.

For example: a licensed teacher working as a sales clerk. A professional engineer doing mundane clerical work for years. A barangay health worker assigned to tasks that have little to do with health services. These are mis­employments—a misuse of human capital that rarely makes headlines but steadily erodes potential.

Why does the distinction matter?
In the Philippines our main labor institutions—Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)—do not track misemployment as a separate statistic. Nor does any other country (to my knowledge) officially publish a “misemployment rate”. Yet we track unemployment, underemployment, joblessness and hours worked. Why skip misemployment?

My late brother, Roy Seneres—former Ambassador and NLRC Chairman—was the first to make me aware of the flawed way we define underemployment in our country. Under our current definition: working fewer than eight hours a day qualifies. But Roy observed: “What about that teacher who becomes a sales-girl? She’s working eight hours a day, even more—but she is under‐utilized, her value wasted.” That is misemployment.

Here’s the problem:

• We need to know how many people are underemployed (for instance, working less than eight hours a day or wanting more work).
  
  

• We also need to know how many people are misemployed (working full hours but in roles well below their qualifications).
  
  

• But which is the bigger driver of the “job-mismatch” we often talk about? I’d argue it’s misemployment. People have jobs—but they’re not the right jobs.
  
  

What do the numbers say?
Officially, for September 2025, PSA data show: an unemployment rate of 3.8 % (about 1.96 million Filipinos) and an employment rate of 96.2 %. Underemployment is at 11.1 % (equivalent to roughly 5.52 million people). 

Notice: We don’t see any figure for misemployment. Because it’s not being measured separately. So it remains hidden—yet likely significant.

So where does the problem lie?
Is it in the educational system that produces graduates ill-matched to the job market? Is it in hiring practices that fail to utilize the right talent? Is it structural—when institutions assign people to the wrong posts or allow talent to go wasted? Might this be one reason why so many Filipinos go abroad, looking for jobs “right” for their skills? Possibly yes.

What can be done?
We need a database solution—perhaps backed by blockchain or AI-enhanced matching—to track skills, roles and assignments. At home, in barangays, in LGUs, we must know who we have, what they’re qualified for, and where they are deployed. For misemployment to be addressed, we first need to measure it.

Proposed modular data categories:

• Skill Mismatch: Individuals working in jobs far below education/training.
  
  

• Role Misallocation: Staff assigned outside mandates (e.g., health worker doing clerical duties).
  
  

• Time Misuse: Staff with few tasks despite full-time status.
  
  

• Resource Misemployment: Equipment or funds allocated for mis-directed jobs.
  
  

• Cultural/Gender Misemployment: Talents of indigenous knowledge-holders or women sidelined in decision-making roles.
  
  

Suggested collection tools:

• Barangay-level surveys that could align occupation, education and task.
  
  

• Focus-group discussions with those misemployed.
  
  

• Stakeholder mapping to identify gaps between assignment and actual work.
  
  

• Policy audits comparing stated mandates with actual roles.
  
  

Why act now?
Because misemployment is silently draining our human capital. It is a form of labor market inefficiency which echoes across sectors: wasted potential, frustrated workers, slower innovation and stagnated productivity. When someone qualified for higher value work is doing lesser value work, society loses twice—what they could have contributed, and the cost of running something less suited.

What I suggest we do:

1. Lobby PSA/DOLE to add a misemployment indicator in their surveys, separate from underemployment.
   
   

2. Conduct pilot audits in selected barangays with the modular framework.
   
   

3. Use technology—smart matching platforms, AI algorithms—to bridge the gap between talent and role.
   
   

4. Integrate misemployment diagnostics into community-restoration, circular-governance models. Remap human capital just like we map physical infrastructure.
   
   

Final thoughts:
We all agree that jobs matter—but what if the job is wrong for you? That doesn’t just affect the individual; it ripples through households, communities and the economy. By lumping misemployment under “underemployment” or ignoring it altogether, we deny ourselves the chance to fix it. So: let’s separate the data, sharpen our focus and aim for not just more jobs—but right jobs.

We owe it to the millions of Filipinos who are working—and yet waiting, or are not earning right.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres iseneres@yahoo.com senseneres.blogspot.com 09088877282/06-14-2026