Employment and Skills Strategies in the Philippines
Skills represent a key driver of development and growth in the Philippines. Educational attainment of the Filipino population has steadily increased in recent decades, but while the country is regionally successful within Southeast Asia, it has yet to reach the standards of more developed countries. This OECD report looks at the implementation of employment and skills development programmes in a sample of cities in the Philippines: Taguig City, Cebu City, and Davao City. Local governments in the Philippines have an active role in the management of employment and skills programmes through Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs). These offices are responsible for the implementation of a number of nationally regulated policies and programmes. All three cities are making a number of investments to better link people to jobs, develop a skilled workforce and attract new investment.
Policy context for employment and skills in the Philippines
This chapter provides an overview of the key macro-level trends in the Philippines as well as an overview of the key departments and organisations managing employment and skills programmes. The Philippines recovered quickly following the global economic crisis. During the period between 2008-14, average GDP growth was 5.4%, outperforming both the OECD average and a number of ASEAN peers including Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Responsibilities for labour market policies and vocational education and training are relatively decentralised in the Philippines. Local government units play an important role in linking people to jobs and developing training programmes with employers.