Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Philippines (Ratification: 1976)

Employment trends. The Committee notes that the country’s labour force reached 40 million people in 2011, increasing by over 1 million new jobs when compared to 2010. Underemployment also rose in 2011 by 401,000 people to reach 7.163 million. The number of unemployed people in 2011 declined by 45,000 to 2.814 million, overall figures dominated by young workers (aged 15–24 years) as they comprised 1.417 million of the total number of unemployed persons. The unemployment rate decreased to 7 per cent in 2011 from 7.4 per cent in 2010, and unemployment was measured at 6.8 per cent in October 2012. The target with respect to the unemployment rate in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) ranges from 6.8 to 7.2 per cent. According to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics’ LabStat update of December 2012, the labour force participation rate fell from 66.3 per cent in October 2011, to 63.9 per cent in October 2012. Such a reduction in the labour force had not occurred since January 2008. The contraction was due in part to a large reduction in the working youth population (15–24 years old) and a reduction in participation rates was observed in almost all regions of the country. Furthermore, the Government indicates in its report that the Department of Labor and Employment has developed client-specific labour market information materials to provide timely and accurate signals on jobs and skills in demand and shortages that are readily accessible to the public and made available on government agency websites. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide relevant data and trends of the labour market, disaggregated by sector, age, gender, in particular for vulnerable groups such as young persons (Articles 1(2) and 2(a)) of the Convention.

Youth employment. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to the previous observation with respect to the continuing measures to meet the employment needs of young persons. As of February 2012, a total of 16,285 young persons benefited from the Youth Education–Youth Employability (YE–YE) project and 916 of them graduated from college. The Joint Programme on Youth Employment and Migration is being implemented in support to the Government’s vision of a productive and competitive youth. The joint programme aims to achieve the following outcomes over a period of three years: improved policy coherence and implementation on youth employment and migration programmes through full stakeholder participation; and increased access to decent work for poor young women and men. The Committee further notes that the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), a work-bridging programme that enables poor students aged 15–25 to pursue education by working for a specified number of days, has assisted 1,687,931 student beneficiaries since 1993. The Committee invites the Government to continue to report on measures taken to meet the needs of young persons and to indicate how beneficiaries of the different programmes implemented have found lasting employment.

Coordination of training policies with employment opportunities. The Government indicates that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has been undertaking public–private partnerships in different forms such as the establishment of Technical Education and Skills Development Committees (TESDCs) which are multisectoral bodies created at the regional, provincial, district and local levels to coordinate and monitor the delivery of all skills development activities by the public and private sectors. TESDA conducts regular industry dialogue and consultations to establish and strengthen industry collaboration and linkages and provides a forum that will identify specific skills requirements needed. The Government further indicates that, in 2011, graduates of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes accounted for 1,332,751 out of the 1,572,131 enrollees. The results of the 2011 impact evaluation study of TVET graduates showed an employment rate of 60.9 per cent within six months after completion of the training programme. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on the results achieved by the TESDCs in coordinating and monitoring the matching of skills and labour market needs.