Harnessing and Developing Youth

Employability: Labor Market Information on

School-to-Work Transition

22 October 2015

Tagaytay, Philippies

Kelly Bird, Director

Southeast Asia Department

Asian Development Bank

Youth school-to-work transition in thePhilippines

Youth not in employment, education andtraining (NEET) in the Philippines

What other countries do to facilitate afaster youth school-to-work transition

Philippines – programs to facilitate school-to-work transition

Overview of Presentation

What is the Youth School-to-Work Transition?

The school-to-work transition describes the activitiesand time taken by a young person to find a job sinceleaving school or college.

The transition may include the following activities:

• Active job search,

• Short term skills training

• Temporary work

• Inactivity – staying at home out of employment,education and training (NEET)

A young person’s slow transition from school to workreduces their chances of finding a good job becausetheir ‘marketability’ to employers diminishes.

How Do We Measure the School-to-Work Transition?

Three Common Indicators

1) The average time it takes for a young person tofind a job after leaving school or college.

2) The number or share of youth that find a job ‘X’number of years since leaving school or college(youth employment rates over time)

3) Share of youth not in employment, education ortraining (NEET rate)

Labor Market Data Sources

Two main sources

1) Philippines labor force survey, household based,quarterly survey

2) ADB survey of 500 households with over 1,500working age individuals in Metro Manila andCebu, with households randomly drawn from theregister of the Philippines Family Income andExpenditure Survey.

Filipino Youth School-to-Work Transition

- (1) How long does it take for a young Filipino to find a job since leaving school/college in the

Philippines?

ADB survey found a relatively slow school-to-work transition for high school graduates:

• It takes an average college graduate up to 2years to find a regular wage job

• It takes an average high school graduate upto 4 years to find a regular wage job

Filipino Youth School-to-Work Transition

- (2) How many youth are employed since leaving school in the Philippines

High school graduates

• 20% of high school graduates find a job one year since leaving school

• 70% of high school graduates are in employment eight years since leaving school

College graduates

• 75% of college graduates find a job within one year since leaving college

ER one year after leaving

school

ER five years after leaving school

Median time in years to Find

First Job

Germany 75% 78% 0.1

Switzerland 82% 85% 0.7

United Kingdom 80% 85% 1.8

Netherlands 85% 90% 1.0

Italy 50% 70% 3.0

Spain 65% 80% 2.7

Greece 50% 75% 3.2

Philippines 60% 70% 2.0-3.0

How Does the Philippines Compare with Other Countries?

(Source: OECD, ADB for Philippines)

Filipino Youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)

About one in four youth are not in employment, education and training system at any one time

• Prolonged periods in NEET can damage youth future labor market prospects

Risk Factors

• Gender - young women at higher risk

• Education – youth with high school education or lower at higher risk

• Household income status – youth from lower household incomes at higher risk

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 51 55 59 63

Male Female All

NEET by Age and Gender

Share of

Population in NEET

Age

High NEET for young women

NEET by Gender and Education Attainment

(A) Women (b) Men

Share of Population

in NEET

Age

High NEET for high School graduates and dropouts

NEET by Household Income Class -National

Young Women Young Men

High NEET for young women from low-income families

Share of youth population in

NEET

Youth NEET Rates by Household Income Class in NCR

Young Women Young Men

High NEET for young women from low-income families

Share of youth population in

NEET

High NEET for young men from low-income families

Share of youth population in

NEET

How Does the Philippine NEET Rate Compare with Other Middle-Income

Countries?

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Turkey

Bangladesh

Indonesia

India

Philippines

Brazil

Argentina

Mexico

OECD

EU27

Thailand

Share of youth population in NEET

1) Increase participation in school (such as Kto12 reform, scholarships to students from poor families, etc.)

2) Strengthen the link between education, training and the labor market – some ways are:

Apprenticeship program

• 2-3 year programs, combination of employment and TVET, certification at the end

Employer and employee tax rebates for training (Chile – 1% of payroll)

Skills grants to private sector

• National government budget funded (+ employer contributions)

• Sector and regional focus of grant skills

How do Other Countries Facilitate a Faster Youth School-to-Work

Transition?

3) Employment facilitation programs

Support services to out-of-school youth

• Targets youth left behind in the education system or in the labor market despite access to other programs

• Operated through public employment services offices

• Provides career guidance, life skills training, technical training, internships/job placements with employers

How do Other Countries Facilitate a Faster Youth School-to-Work

Transition?

(1) Labor market information system (LMIS):

LMIS action plan endorsed and to be implemented from 2015 onwards

Builds on DOLE’s existing systems such as skills registry system (SRS) and PhilJobsNet

Functions defined at the local government level to collect information on vacancies and labor market to allow job forecasts and skills profile

Functions defined at the national level to aggregate labor demand, forecasts and analysis

Youth to access labor market information

Philippines – Interventions to shorten the School-to-Work Transition

(2) JobStart Philippines (JSP)

DOLE’s Youth employment program

Aims to improve the employability profile of youth

Post high school/college remedial program

Targeted beneficiaries:

Persons between 18 and 24 years

Youth not in employment, education or training at the time of registering in Jobstart

12 months or less work experience

Many of the beneficiaries under the pilot project are from lower income families

Philippines – Interventions to shorten the School-to-Work Transition

It’s a full cycle of services to out-of-school youth

Operated through public employment services offices (PESOs)

Empower youth to think about career choices through career coaching

Helps youth better prepare for the job by investing in them with:

• Life skills training

• Short term technical training

• On-the-job training for work experience with employers

• Involves employers early in the decision-making process including the designing of the training plans

How Does JobStart Philippines Help…

Pilot JSP in 4 local government units in 2014 and 2015

DOLE endorsed a nation wide rollout with first stage from 2015 to 2020 targeting 64 local government units

DOLE partnering with Asian Development Bank and the Government of Canada during the pilot stage and the nationwide rollout

Pilot stage includes a randomized impact evaluation to provide evidenced on effects of program on employment outcomes

Scaling Up JobStart Philippines

Employers – reported satisfied with JobStart

• Better prepared job applicants through life skills training

• Flexibility provided to employers in developing the training plans

• Helps address skill shortages

JobStarters – reported satisfied with JobStart

• Improved confidence through life skills training

• Technical training and work experience provides relevant skills to land a job

• Improved chances of finding a job

Benefits of JobStart Philippines(ADB midterm evaluation)

Thank you