Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 22) —The World Bank urged the Philippines to boost jobs for the youth as this sector was being left out while other labor market indicators returned to pre-pandemic levels.
In its Philippines Jobs 2023 report released on Wednesday, the World Bank pointed out that even before the pandemic in 2019, over 60% of the youth population aged between 15 and 24 were out of the labor force. That hardly changed, it said.In 2022, youth employment remained low whereas overall labor market indicators recovered to pre-pandemic level,” the World Bank report read.Its policy recommendation: Create more digital and green jobs.Digital jobs typically refer to those that use information and communications technology (ICT) including computing, internet, and mobile phones; freelancing jobs accessed and traded through online platforms (online gig economy); jobs created by online platforms themselves (sharing economy); and digital penetration in real sector jobs especially through e-commerce.The World Bank also chimed in on the artificial intelligence issue.Robots may replace some workers but this technology cannot replace the entire human workers… the technology can work well if you have competent workers,” Yoonyoung Cho, World Bank senior economist said during the report’s launch. “If you want to be competitive and maintain competitiveness in these technological advances, you need the foundational skills so you can use technology in an effective manner.Green jobs, meanwhile, come from activities to protect biodiversity, reduce waste and pollution, and conserve resources such as energy, materials, and water, according to the report. They can also be generated from strategies for greater energy efficiency and transitioning towards a decarbonized economy.
