Technical and vocational education and training in the Philippines: experience and views of trainees

Abstract

IntroductionThe population of the Philippines in the latest census in 1990 was 60.7 million [1]. The official estimate of the rate of growth of the population lies at 2.4 per cent. The population is relatively young: two thirds are below 25 years old. Literacy rate (for people above ten years old) at the time of census was 89.9 per cent.In 1995, the labour force participation rate was estimated at 65.8 per cent (rising from 63.4 in 1985); 83.0 per cent for male and 48.5 per cent for female and 68.5 per cent for rural and 63.1 per cent for urban population. The rate of open unemployment was 9.5 to 9.7 per cent between 1993 and 1995; it was higher among females (10.7 per cent) than males (8.8 per cent) and urban (12.3 per cent) than rural (6.9 per cent) labour forces. Underemployment rate (defined as proportion of employed persons wanting additional hours of work of total employed persons) was at 21.7 per cent in 1993 and 20.0 per cent in 1995.The agricultural sector is the leading employment sector followed by the services sector. The two together provided employment for nearly 84 per cent of the (economically active) labour force. The industrial sector's role in employment provision is increasing; from 14.4 per cent of the total in 1983, to 15.5 per cent in 1993 and 16.1 per cent in 1995. (The manufacturing makes up about two thirds of the total industrial labour force.) Compared to the region, this increase is modest.The Philippines is in the category of medium human development. Income disparity and incidence of poverty are high. However, the latter is showing a declining tendency; 40.2 per cent in 1988, 39.9 per cent in 1991 and 35.7 per cent in 1994.The government's primary economic target is to leap to newly industrializing country (NICs) status by the year 2000. This would necessitate a high rate of industrial output and per capita income growth. Industrial growth is expected in export-oriented manufacturing industries. The level of wages in the country is too high (minimum wage is roughly 100 USD per month) to compete with some countries in the region, e.g. China, on low skill level-based labour intensive industries. The country's position in the regional division of labour would probably take to middle (and high) skill-based industries. The government recognizes the role of (industrial) human resource development in the process of transformation from an import substitution industrialization (which characterized the 1970s and largely the 1980s) to an export-oriented one and in the procession to NICs

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