PHL skills gap most apparent in foreign languages

Filipino workers of either gender assessed themselves most deficient in language skills and operating machinery, according to a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In its “Harnessing Survey Data to Shape the Future of Work” report, the ADB said according to their self-assessments, Filipino workers considered reading, writing and basic numeracy to be closely aligned with job requirements, though computer or software skills and communication skills were aligned to a lesser extent.

According to the skills self-assessment against job requirements, the ADB found that 39% of surveyed men and 27.3% of women considered themselves underskilled in foreign languages, rating their proficiency as below standard or needing improvement.

For men, the other major skills gaps were in operating machinery and equipment (26.5%), project management or organizational skills (23.6%), computer or software skills (20.2%), and teamwork or leadership skills (19.3%).

For women, operating machinery and equipment (25.4%), project management or organizational skills (23.7%), computer or software skills (17.6%), and teamwork or leadership (16.8%) were the other leading self-reported skills gaps.

The ADB noted that while some skill areas showed gender differences, overall trends in alignment and perceived gaps were broadly similar for men and women.

“In the Philippines, men were more engaged than women in physically demanding manual tasks such as lifting, driving, and using heavy machinery, while gender differences were narrower in precision work and prolonged physical activity,” the bank said.

Overall, the Philippines showed the lowest overall skills match at 71.8% for both sexes, next to Bhutan (92.6%) and Georgia (78.8%).

Source: Business World

Unemployment hits 3-month high

The number of jobless Filipinos surged in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, with rates hitting a three-month high.

The country’s unemployment rate was recorded at 5.0 percent, markedly up from 3.8 percent and 3.9 percent a year earlier.. This is the highest unemployment rate since July of this year at 5.3 percent.

This translates to 2.54 million unemployed Filipinos, higher than the 1.96 million recorded in September 2025 and 1.97 million in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts as those looking for more work or an extra job — rose to 12.0 percent, up from 11.1 percent last month. It is, however, lower than year-earlier 12.6 percent.

The number of underemployed individuals stood at 5.81 million. These are workers who expressed a desire for additional hours in their current job, an additional job, or a new job with longer hours.

Employment rate, meanwhile, recorded a downtick of 95.0 percent, down from 96.2 percent recorded a month earlier and 96.1 percent a year earlier. The number of individuals with jobs reached 48.62 million.

The country’s Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in October was registered at 63.6, lower than the 64.5 percent a month earlier but slightly higher than the 63.3 percent recorded a year earlier.

Source: Manila Times

PHL has over 1 million working children

The number of children working in the country fell by 26% to 1.09 million in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

PSA data showed the number of working children, aged between five and 17 years old, dropped by over 383,000 in 2023 from about 1.48 million in 2022.

The share of children doing work fell to 3.5% of the child population in 2023, lower than 4.7% in the previous year.

The term “working children” covers all children engaged in any form of economic activity regardless of their age or the nature of the work, PSA said.

Out of the 1.09 million working children, boys made up 59.1% of the total, while girls accounted for 40.9%.

The service sector employed 50% of the working children, slightly higher than 49.5% in 2022.   

The agriculture sector’s share of child workers went up to 43.7% in 2023 from 43.2% in 2022.

Industry had the smallest share of working children at 6.3% in 2023, slipping from 7.3% in 2022.

In 2023, 73.7% of working children logged 20 hours or less of work each week, PSA said. This was lower than 75.6% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of working children involved in “child labor” was estimated at about 678,000 in 2023, dropping from about 828,000 a year earlier.

Child labor is defined by the PSA as working children who are engaged in hazardous work or whose work exceeds 40 hours.

The statistics agency estimated that 62% of the total number of working children in 2023 were engaged in child labor. The ratio was 56% in 2022 and 68.4% in 2021.

Of the estimated 678,000 working children engaged in child labor in 2023, 62.1% or 422,000 were boys, while 37.9% or 257,000 were girls.

Agriculture had the highest share of child laborers at 65.3%, followed by services (30.7%) and industry (4%).

Earlier, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez said the agency is working to eliminate child labor and prevent child labor practices.

Source: Business World