SOCIAL ISSUES

Main Social Problem – Unemployment in Barangay Paknaan

“Unemployment continues to be a social problem up to this day as it is one of the major factors leading
to poverty.”

Based on the results of the January 2020 Labor Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics
Authority, the Labor Force Participation Rate in Central Visayas was 63.9% with an unemployment
rate of 3.5%.

“In Mandaue City, employment is expected to gradually improve towards the end of 2020, according to
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, mainly because the city is home to almost
200,000 industrial and commercial businesses continuously trying to ramp-up.”

Although, despite being a 1st income class city, the continuous rise of population results to a significantly
large population falling at or below the poverty line.

Unfortunately, unemployment disproportionately falls on the deprived, depressed and underprivileged

communities, and one of these is located in one of the city’s barangays—Barangay Paknaan.

Unfortunately, the barangay and the Public Employment and Services Office (PESO) of Mandaue City
currently do not have the statistical data nor any specific data regarding the unemployment or
employment in Barangay Paknaan since according to them, it needs a lot of personnel to conduct a
survey to be able to know the specific data on how many people in the barangay are currently
unemployed.

However, it is still evident that unemployment remains one of the social problems the community is
facing until now based on field observations.

The unemployed include all persons in the community who are 15 years and above without work
although they are available for work and are actively looking for a job, and those who are active and
willing job seekers but are still jobless due to the following reasons:
(1) They are unaware of the jobs available because they have poor and limited access to such
employment opportunities;
(2) They lack the necessary and in-demand workforce skills and preferred qualifications
(3) Temporary illness…

Other underlying causes of unemployment in the barangay include:

 The unavailability of jobs that fit most of the skills and qualifications of the unemployed
 Geographical Immobility
 Oversupply of Labor Force; and
 Economic Recession
If unemployment in Barangay Paknaan is left unaddressed, it would regrettably lead to an increase in
poverty rate, increase in public welfare expenditures, severe financial hardship and debt on people,
homelessness and housing stress, and more social and psychological problems.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

An existing institution in Barangay Paknaan, the Paknaan Multi-Purpose Cooverative (PAMULCO) has
already been reaching out to the people in the community since 2005 through providing prime
commodities, instilling livelihood programs and offering low-cost loans to its members, and hiring native
Paknaanons to produce local products such as “silhig”, “paspas” and others to increase production and
revenue.

PAMULCO frames an opportunity on how we could accelerate progress in addressing the target
social problem in the community which is unemployment.

POINT-OF-VIEW / PROBLEM STATEMENT:

The unemployed deprived, depressed and underprivileged people in Barangay Paknaan needs more and
better access to a wider range of job opportunities because they would want to land a stable job that
best fit their skills and abilities, and have fair and equal opportunities for them to develop employability
skills.

And so… HMW QUESTIONS:

• How might we reduce unemployment in Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City?

• How might we increase employment accessibility in the deprived, depressed and

underprivileged community?

• How might we create a bridge to link the unemployed in Barangay Paknaan to businesses and
companies with job vacancies?

• How might we encourage existing institutions or social enterprises to collaborate with us in

addressing unemployment in the deprived, depressed and underprivileged community?

ALTHOUGH, PAMULCO’S APPROACH DID NOT NECESSARILY OR DIRECTLY IMPACT OR REDUCE

UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE BARAGAY, AND SO, THE GROUP CAME UP WITH AN INNOVATIVE
SOLUTION THAT WILL SOMEHOW ASSIST THE COOPERATIVE IN ADDRESSING
UNEMPLOYMENT….

Main Innovative Solution: PAMULCO Manpower Services

To help reduce unemployment in the community, the proposed main innovative solution is to
incorporate an employment social enterprise or an additional business operation to the existing
cooperative—the “PAMULCO Manpower Services”, which was named after the cooperative itself.

 Embedded Social Enterprise

  The social programs & business activities are one and the same
 Fee-For-Service Model – commercializes its social services, and sells them directly to the target
populations/clients, individuals, firms, companies, businesses, etc.
 Cooperative Model – provides direct benefit through member services

PAMULCO Manpower Services operates similar to a “staffing” or “employment agency” in which it links
the unemployed to businesses and companies all around Mandaue City who are in need of human
resources.

The unemployed and jobless in the community may register with PAMULCO Manpower
Services for free and the organization will help bring them closer to a wider range of job
opportunities with proactive approaches of contacting work sites who have available job
positions or search other job vacancies through job portals or websites. PMS handles the search
process, matching up the unemployed with the available jobs, and lining up potential
candidates to proceed to be interviewed by the companies or industries.

Unlike recruitment agencies, the main priority of PAMULCO Manpower Services as an

employment social enterprise are the unemployed and jobless people in Barangay Paknaan,
especially those who are deprived, depressed and underprivileged.
PAMULCO Manpower Services generates its funds with the assistance of the existing
cooperative and through the service fees charged to businesses or companies for the provision
of manpower or human resources.
The money generated from its services will be used to fund the educational assistance program
and employability training program, in which the latter enables the unemployed and jobless
Paknaanons to develop the necessary skills to prepare them for the job and which can build up
their resumes, making them more marketable for “PAMULCO Manpower Services.”

Main Beneficiaries of the Proposed Solutions:

Unemployed people in the community
(Unfortunately, the barangay currently does
not have the statistical data of
unemployment/employment in the community
nor does the PESO Mandaue)
These beneficiaries are those who are in need
and are actively looking for work, but unable to
find a job, mainly because they are having
difficulties or they lack the resources in learning
high demand skills.

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)
Beneficiaries
Indigents residing in the community
The proposed social employment enterprise
benefits the 4Ps beneficiaries, especially those
who cannot simply rely on the 4Ps program to
sustain their needs.
(Fisherfolks, Homeless families, indigenous
people/Native Paknaanons, and those in the
informal sector)
These beneficiaries are those who

Solo Parents
Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the
community.
PAMULCO (Paknaan Multi-Purpose
Cooperative)
Estimated to have more than 550 active
members as of this year.
unfortunately lack the basic resources of life
because they do not have sufficient income to
sustain themselves and their families, or
because of severe poverty.
These beneficiaries are those solo parents
without support system, with no jobs and are
having difficulties in looking for a job due to
child care.
These beneficiaries are those who have
physical and mental impairments, resulting to
poor health outcomes. Due to their health
conditions, they struggle in looking for
employment although they may still be trained
to hone their potential and capabilities.
This existing cooperative in which the
employment social enterprise (PMS) is
proposed to be incorporated is also considered
as its beneficiary since the enterprise may also
help generate more profit and may add to the
cooperative’s total assets.

IMPACT OF THE INNOVATIVE SOLUTION:

 Improved Quality of Life of the deprived, depressed and underprivileged.
o Decrease in unemployment rate
o More people in Barangay Paknaan will land a stable job which will be their
source of sufficient income or household income
 Closer Community Engagement
 Continuous success and increased social responsibility of the existing Paknaan Multi-
Purpose Cooperative (PAMULCO)
o Generate more profits to PAMULCO
o Increased no. of PAMULCO members

In conclusion, social entrepreneurship can help curb the unemployment crisis in Barangay Paknaan
through achieving social integration and providing more and better access of employment opportunities
and employability skills training to the deprived, depressed and underprivileged.

Since we are students majoring in Human Resource Management, we applied an HR approach in

formulating/creating a social enterprise/solution to the social problem.