ADB: Youth unemployment a ‘policy challenge’ for gov’t

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Although the Philippine economy has grown by 6.2% on average since 2010, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) believes that youth unemployment is a “policy challenge” for the government.

“A survey found that college graduates took about a year to find work, and high school graduates took up to 3 years. Many drift into informal work, often part time and poorly paid, or remain unemployed. One in four young people is neither working nor pursuing education or training,” ADB said in its Asian Development Outlook 2016 released on Wednesday (March 30).

A Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report shows the country’s overall unemployment rate stood at 5.8 percent in January 2016. However, almost half (48.2 percent) of unemployed persons were from the 18-24 age group.

According to ADB, a number of factors keep youth unemployment “high.” On the demand-side, the number of jobs generated each year falls short of what is needed to both absorb new entrants into the labor force and the 2.5 million unemployed.

“Almost 80% of new jobs in the past 6 years have been generated by the service sector, particularly BPO, tourism, and retail trade… Stronger employment generation will require more broad-based growth driven by productivity gains across all sectors.”

It also cited a mismatch education and skills in the labor market: “Improving the relevance and quality of technical and vocational training programs and strengthening certification frameworks will help overcome such mismatches.”

“More programs are needed to provide employment services, such as career guidance and coaching for young people when they leave school.”

Nevertheless, the multilateral financial institution noted the government’s efforts in tackling youth unemployment, such as the JobStart Philippines program, which is currently being rolled out.

Under the program, youth beneficiaries receive full-cycle employment facilitation services that include:

• Career Guidance and Coaching, to be provided by Public Employment Service Office staff and other trained career guidance coaches and advocates
• Life Skills training for eight days
• Technical skills training for up to three months
• Company-based internships for up to six months

The government pays employers P9,000 as a training fee for every intern the latter takes in.

“The Philippines has a relatively young population, as half of all Filipinos last year were younger than 25 years, and the median age was estimated at 23. This offers an opportunity to raise potential economic growth, but the demographic dividend can be realized only if young people are employed in productive jobs,” ADB said. –CNN Philippines Staff