SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian lamented the quality of jobs that graduates of technical-vocational courses are getting.

While eight out of 10 TESDA graduates are employed, their salaries are below minimum, he said.

“The jobs they are landing are below minimum wage. So that’s not commensurate with the one to two-year time they spent – not only their time but also their money,” the senator said.

“They cannot even reap the rewards or get the returns of that investment because of that. I think that’s a very important point that needs to be addressed,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva echoed Gatchalian’s concern.

“Is it our goal to just make sure that our trainees land jobs, or we wanted to get them out of poverty and ensure at least they receive above minimum wage?” Villanueva asked.

“If this trend will continue, then we are only allowing them to land jobs below minimum wage, and there’s no way we can help them actually get out of poverty,” he added.