Manila: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD500 million policy-based loan aimed at assisting the Philippine government in expanding its labor market programs. This initiative is part of the Business and Employment Recovery Program-Subprogram 2, which seeks to equip the nation's labor force with the necessary skills to meet the demands of evolving industries.

According to Philippines News Agency, the program is also focused on enhancing women's participation in the workforce through technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It aims to improve access to livelihood and employment opportunities via government job facilitation initiatives. One of the program's goals is to increase formal employment in the private sector by an annual average of 600,000 to 700,000 jobs. This would raise the share of private sector employment to 51 percent, compared to 49 percent in 2019.

Additionally, the program will provide skills training to 5,000 workers, including those displaced by the pandemic, through private sector-led initiatives like SkillsUpNet Philippines. The government also plans to boost job placements via public employment service offices in local government units (LGUs) by 120,000 annually. Furthermore, there is an initiative to expand the number of LGUs implementing the JobStart Philippines skills training program for youth not engaged in education, employment, or training.

ADB Country Director for the Philippines, Pavit Ramachandran, highlighted the challenges faced by many workers, such as underemployment and limited access to decent work opportunities, despite encouraging job recovery post-Covid-19. He emphasized that the new program will help prepare Filipino workers for higher-skilled jobs in sectors like analytics, artificial intelligence, software development, security, and business process management-fields where Filipinos have shown exceptional potential.