MANILA, PHILIPPINES (30 JANUARY 2025) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million policy-based loan to help the Philippine government expand labor market programs designed to improve the productivity and employability of Filipino workers, while supporting reforms that will transform the investment environment to become more conducive to job creation.
The Business and Employment Recovery Program-Subprogram 2 is assisting the government in pursuing reforms and initiatives to achieve inclusive economic growth by equipping the country’s labor force, including vulnerable youth, with the skills required to meet evolving industry needs. It also aims to increase women’s participation in the workforce via technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and provide better access to livelihood and employment opportunities through government job facilitation programs.
“While job recovery in the Philippines has been encouraging in the post-COVID-19 period, the quality of jobs remains a critical concern, with many workers still facing challenges such as underemployment, informality, and limited access to decent work opportunities,” said ADB Country Director for the Philippines Pavit Ramachandran. “This new program addresses that need and will help in preparing Filipino workers for higher-skilled jobs such as in analytics and artificial intelligence, software development and security, and business process management—industries where Filipinos have a proven potential to excel.”
Under the program, the government is targeting to increase the formal employment in the private sector by an average of 600,000 to 700,000 jobs per year, with the share of private sector jobs to total employment rising to 51% against 49% in 2019, or prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to massive job losses and contraction in industry output.
Other targets include skills training for 5,000 workers, including those displaced during the COVID-19 pandemic, through private sector-led programs such as the SkillsUpNet Philippines or similar workplace skills training program piloted by the government with ADB support. The government also wants to raise the number of job placements through public employment service offices (PESOs) in local government units (LGUs) across the country by 120,000 annually and expand the number of LGUs implementing the JobStart Philippines skills training program for the youth not in education, employment, or training.
This program builds on the ADB-financed Facilitating Youth School-to-Work Transition Program, which supported previous labor market reforms and initiatives, including JobStart Philippines and the institutionalization of PESOs. It also complements the Supporting Innovation in the Philippine TVET System, which is helping upgrade and modernize TVET training institutes managed by the government’s Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 69 members—49 from the region.