Philippines: Alternatives to migration: Decent Jobs for Filipino youth

Despite high economic growth, the Philippines, with a fast-growing population, is not able to provide sufficient jobs to reduce poverty, and its education system cannot meet the skills requirements of growing industries. Some 1.46 million young people were unemployed in 2010, half of them with secondary school educations and 40 % with college degrees. 2.3 million more are in vulnerable employment, with inadequate earnings and lack of social protection. In the search of decent work, many young Filipinos move from rural to urban areas, with some opting to go overseas.

The Joint Programme supports the Government's vision of a productive and competitive youth by working on two fronts: increasing access to decent jobs for young men and women in the country’s poorest areas; and improving policies on youth employment and migration by encouraging the participation of all stakeholders in the process. It is being implemented in four provinces with high migration rates and the highest incidences of out-of-school youth and poor youth, where the MDGs are least likely to be achieved – Masbate, Antique, Maguindanao and Agusan del Sur.

Among other initiatives, the programme has provided training and materials on entrepreneurship, life skills and safe migration to teachers, out of school youth, local partner organizations and thousands of secondary schools. Hundreds of at-risk high school students have been given educational subsidies to reduce drop-out rates in public schools.