ADB seeks to boost PHL youth employment via $400-M loan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) seeks to bolster the employment of out-of-school and unemployed young Filipinos through a $400 million loan it provided the Philippine government.

Its Facilitating Youth School-to-Work Transition Program, subprogram 2, will support policy reforms and government initiatives aimed at improving the employability of the youth, the Manila-based ADB said in a statement on Tuesday.

The program will build on the Labor department’s youth employment facilitation program called “Jobstart Philippines.”

“Many young Filipinos today are anxious about their career prospects in a very competitive labor market. This program will enhance public employment services to help them transition from school to work,” said ADB Southeast Asia Regional Department Director Jose Antonio Tan III.

Between November 2016 and March 2019, the Jobstart program benefitted 17,537 out-of-school youth, most of whom came from low-income households.

Another 393,500 young Filipinos were also given paid, short-term jobs during their school breaks through improvements in the government’s Special Program for the Employment of Students.

The ADB will launch a technical assistance program in 2020 that will introduce funding schemes to employers to help them implement skills upgrade initiatives in their businesses.

“This new ADB loan seeks to address the skills mismatch between young job seekers and the competencies demanded by employers,” said ADB Southeast Asia Senior Economist for Public Finance Cristina Lozano.

The bank noted that one in five Filipinos between 15 and 24 years old, as well as one-third of young Filipino women, are unemployed or undergoing education and training.

The number is lower than the 18% average rate in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. —Julia Mari Ornedo/VDS, GMA News