EVALUATING EXPERIENCES OF UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS

IN CEBU CITY

JUDYLHEAN LORETE, FERBEL JOHN LLANOS,

HANNAH MAE BORRES, MARY MARGARETTE SAY
BILIE SEMBLANTE, SHALLEEN DUARTE,
GRAHAMBELL SABANATE, BRYAN BACLAYON
ARON JUSTIN ENRIQUEZ

Introduction with the worker. Making some knockback

Underemployment is an
individual problem at work faced by
Filipino Workers in the present time. It is
the condition of a worker wherein he/she
is employed in a certain job but that job
has not met his/her capabilities, leading
to some unproductivity at work and other
job consolation issues. In the Philippines,
underemployment becomes one of the
epidemic issues among Filipino Workers.
A Filipino Worker may have capabilities
in a certain field but due to some factors,
these workers tend to work in an on the
spot job instead of finding a job that suits
his/her capabilities.
This problem is collaborated by
some factors in the system and in the
person. According to the Labor Force
Survey (LFS) of the National Statistics
Office (NSO) that was conducted last
January 2013, there were 7.934 million
Filipinos who are underemployed. In fact,
it is a global issue where world leaders
had already made some
recommendations in various job systems
throughout the world. Also, the
Department of Labor and Employment
said that many of the fresh graduates did
not satisfy the needs of the Philippine
economy. They are not ready to face the
job below their belt.
The researchers observed that
underemployment is caused by different
factors in the economy, job system, and
effect in the economy in a way that
instead of having the chance of every
Filipino to work the job they want, it has
been procrastinated because of some
factors, leading to the chance of
productivity to be in the face of neutral
unproductivity. Thus, it will mainly affect
the economic outcome consumed by the
hours of working. No wonder why the
Philippines’ still a developing country
compared to other countries in the world.
The researchers conducted the
study to identify the views of
underemployed workers towards
underemployment, its causes, effects, and
the way they handle underemployment.
Moreover, it would help the Filipino
workers to be resilient and be able to
handle, if not avoided, the
underemployment. A broad
understanding of underemployment in
the Philippines today may gather Filipino
society to better-targeted policies and
programs.
The objective of this study is to
explore the experiences of
underemployed workers in Cebu City.
Specifically, it seeks to know the
respondents’ perceptions and
understanding about underemployment,
to determine the factors resulting to
underemployment, the effects of
underemployment as perceive by the
informants and the coping mechanisms of
these workers to overcome the
adversities that they are currently

experiencing or they might have
experienced in their chosen line of work.
There are several reasons why
underemployment is arising, changes in
the skills, composition of the workforce,
an increase in the number of college
graduates and the increased expectations
of college-educated workers are some of
it. Institutional factors can also affect the
rate of underemployment: minimum
wages, welfare and taxation systems, and
employment protection legislation.
Spousal employment and income family
constraints, spatial restrictions, other
personal preferences, and other personal
reasons trigger underemployment to
occur. Another determinant is labor
productivity growth. Some people learn
practical jobs faster and better than their
profession. Furthermore, Patromo (2015)
states that higher underemployment rate
is more likely to be observed in
developing countries with a great
percentage of workers in agriculture and
several employees in rural areas.
After analyzing the perceptions of
Ontario Survey on effects of Educational-
Job matching in health-related quality of
life in Raycov (2009) came to a conclusion
that the effects of underemployment are
primarily associated with the behavioral
aspect of an employee which includes
stress embedded with lack of control over
work. The study employs that employees
who are underqualified nor overqualified
are more associated to work-related
stress. Employees who have more hours
in working than they desire also have a
higher rate of having work-related stress.
This study also shows that the effects of
underemployment in a sense that stress
occurring from undesirable (decreased or
increased) hours is often added to the
stress that is seen as a major effect among
underemployed workers.
Issues of effects of
underemployment have discussed
thoroughly because of the rapid increase
of publishing on underemployment and
2
health in Thematic issue of American
Journal of Community Three Psychology
on underemployment and health (2003).
It shows that the underemployed
workers' dissatisfaction to the
opportunities in the economy became
more significant because of the
consequences of being ‘hours
constrained’ and working an
unsatisfactory work. Thus, the literature
shows that the well-being of a worker is
being affected primarily by the economy
which leads to the creation of interrelated
effects in the well-being of an employee.
This study is anchored to the Job
search theory by Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs by Maslow (1943), supported with
the two following theories; the Dual-by
Leibenstein (1960) and the Relative
Deprivation Theory by Stouffer (1949)
which explain the existence of the issue of
underemployment in the society.
In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it
was used to motivate people in order to
achieve their needs (Maslow,1943). If the
first need is fulfilled, a person will seek to
fulfill the next one. It is divided into five
stages; physiological needs, safety needs,
social needs, esteem needs, and the self-
actualization. Physiological needs are the
basic needs which include food, shelter,
and other physical needs. The need for
security and physical protection is
included in the second stage. If the first
two stages are fulfilled, a person will
proceed to fulfill the stage where the need
for affection and belongingness from
others belonged, which is the social need.
Then to the esteem need that includes
self-esteem, respect to self and from
others. If all the four stages were
successfully achieved, it is when the most
important stage will be attained, the self-
actualization. Maslow (1954), he stated
that man has a natural drive to
healthiness or self-actualization. Maslow
defines self-actualization as the desire to
self-fulfillment and realizing one’s

potential. Thus, when any worker has a
work that doesn’t match on their
capabilities, it is normal that they will feel
unsatisfied with the job they had. To
lessen this feeling of dissatisfaction, they
must have to make sure that this job
could satisfy their needs. To get a job is
not about just finding any jobs that are
available even if it’s not a person’s desired
job. Sometimes it is when these workers
will realize their full potential on that
particular job. This realization is when a
person knows the strengths and
capabilities and will be using them on
choosing their desired jobs. That is when
self-actualization is achieved.
Dual-Factor Theory is developed
by Frederick Herzberg (1959) explains
that people’s job satisfaction depends on
two kinds of factors: factors for
satisfaction(satisfiers) and factors for
dissatisfaction. Performance, recognition,
job status, responsibility and
opportunities are all under the category
of satisfiers. Unsatisfied worker covers
about salary, the relationship with
colleagues, physical work place and the
relationship between supervisor and
employee.
The theory’s concept is associated
to the explanation and mechanism of
causality among underemployed workers.
This means that the background state
within the desire of a worker has describe
his/her expectations in workplace. If the
worker had failed to meet his/her
satisfaction within the context of the
work, this leads to the belongingness of a
worker in underemployment. Thus,
worker’s satisfactions that have meet up
his/her work is one of the branches why a
worker leads to being underemployed.
The relative deprivation theory
(RDT) which is first developed by Stouffer
(1949), has been used to understand how
people react to frustrated and unexpected
3
situations. Moreover, the said theory is
assumptions that negative results
together with judgment such as
dissatisfaction. Anger and other negative
emotions differ with the person's
subjective assessment of their job status
(Beinstein & Crosby, 1979). In short, the
theory explains how a person will feel
underprivileged based on how that
person compares him/herself to someone
else.
Thus, when a person becomes
underemployed, it is inevitable that they
could compare their desired job to their
current job. This theory is an important
mediator to explain how
underemployment leads to poorer
psychological well-being in those
replacement jobs of an individual
(Feldman et al, 2002). Thus, the theory
determines the situation of
underemployed workers if they are happy
and satisfied to the work they have. With
the explanation of how a person or
underemployed worker responses, the
researchers would be able to dig up
coping mechanism because it has the
basis on how the underemployed give
their outlook to the underemployment
problem they experience.
Materials and Methods
Phenomenology was the
qualitative research approach that was
used in this study. Tricia Chambers
(2013) defined that, phenomenology is
one of the contexts of qualitative research
that focuses on the commonality of
experiences within a particular group.
The fundamental goal of this study was to
arrive at a description of the nature of the
particular phenomenon.

The study was conducted at IT
Park Cebu. The researchers chose this
place because this place was urbanized
with different fields of job and had
generated numerous job opportunities for
Cebuano’s and by that, the researchers
would have more comprehensive data
about underemployment. This study was
conducted in the second semester of the
school year 2018- 2019.
The data-producers that was
observed and interviewed in the course of
this study were workers from different
fields of work in Cebu IT Park. The
informants aimed to provide data from
their own experiences at work. By this,
researchers were able to make a
conclusion about the course of the study.
The researchers conducted a
semi-structured interview with the use of
an interview guide as an instrument in
gathering information from the
underemployed workers in IT Park Cebu.
An interview guide is a series of questions
that includes the background questions,
and other questions that asks about their
experiences and what they feel based on
their experiences. It is the easiest and the
best instrument that the researchers
could use. The questions were answered
by the chosen informants.
In order to gather information for
this study, the researchers submitted a
letter to the official of the barangay where
the researchers gathered data. Then
agreed to prepare an interview guide that
was used for the researchers’ interview.
Next, the researchers went to Cebu IT
Park to conduct an interview with those
workers who were considered as
underemployed. After doing so, data were
gathered and analyzed after the
interview.
4
After the substantial data was
gathered, the researchers organized the
data based on the research objectives.
Then coding was done to compress data
into easily understandable concepts for it
to be more efficient. Validating the data
should follow to ensure its accuracy and
reliability. As such, the researchers
formulated conclusions based on their
findings.
The researchers used content
analysis in which interviews were done to
build a sufficient dataset. In addition, this
analysis uses a combination of methods,
such as conducting interviews, reading
documents, or visiting places and events,
to understand the meaning participants
place on whatever is being examined.
Results
This part of the paper presents
the results and discussion from the
analyzed qualitative data using content
analysis method. It also presents an
overview of the participants’ experiences
of having on a job that does not match on
their skills and capabilities.
Based on the perception and
understanding of the participant about
underemployment, in terms of describing
underemployment as job mismatch and
also a sub-theme from other objectives
considered job mismatch as one of the
reason of underemployment (100%).
Based on the formulated
categories derived from sub-categories
out from the participants’ statements, the
major themes appear that the reason and
effects of underemployment is the
satisfaction to have their current job
(50%), and the deprived feeling of the
participants while working on their
current job (50%).

Based on how the participants cope
with the difficulties in their current job, in
terms of adapting these difficulties (50%),
and to have the positive mindset towards
their job (75%).
Underemployment… people nga no work.
Nga wala silay work. Underemployment
also kanang mga people nga naka take og
course that is not related to the job that
they are in. (Participant 4, Line 68)
It's because of kanang the
compensation kay when you work at the
hotel industry, ang compensation kay
gamay ra gyud but when you work sa BPO
like (tsk) call center kay dako gyud ang
compensation and better benefits like
insurance, and other stuffs. (Participant 1,
Line 4)
Kuan you get to, you get to talk to
hundreds of people every day and
uhm…(pause) social orientation, tapos
kana sab when it comes to salary… salary..
mas daghan jug benefits ang call center
compared sa kadtung gi… nga.. Like
trabahuan nga in line sa akong course
before kay daghan man gung incentives
diri like every month you get to have
thousands of pesos nga incentives… so so
kuan na… then insurance after regular…
"regularizations".so kuan na… then
insurance after regular… "regularizations”.
(Participant 1, Line 10)
Ahm at first lisod jud siya kay
kanang akong giskwelahan simang, dayon
diri mag english paka jud ka diri pirmi -
kuan nalang jud kanang kung unsay
culture didto murag imo nalang gyud I
follow lang. Prangka sila, prangka pud mi
diri giatay (laughs). (Participant 3, Line
66)
5
Discussion
With the researchers’ main topic,
“Evaluating Experiences of
Underemployed Workers in Cebu City”,
the researchers were able to interview
participants and gathered their answers.
These results were further understood
and supported by related literatures and
studies.
The researchers’ first objective
focuses on the participants’ perceptions
and understandings about
underemployment. They define
underemployment as a job mismatch.
Three out of four participants stated that
underemployment happens when their
job does not match with the course they
have finished or studied. This means that
some people have knowledge on what
underemployment is and that it currently
exists in Cebu City for they knew
themselves that they are underemployed.
On the other hand, one out of four of the
participants define this issue as when a
person is an undergraduate and they are
pushed to work on a job that they did not
really desired. As mentioned by Farooq
(2011) education- job mismatch is when
these workers could compare their
acquired education with their current job.
In short, underemployment is when a
work is not related to a person’s
capabilities, skills and knowledge.
As to why the participants chose
and got into the job that does not match
with their knowledge and skills, they
happened to compare their current job
with their “supposed to be” job. Their
reason is that the job they have right now
is more beneficial in terms of financial
aspect compared to the job that is in line
to their skills. This reason is very practical
because of the fact that the main reason of
why a person choose a particular job is
because they want to get better
compensation and good benefits. Another
reason that they have stated is that they