THE Philippines ranked 46th out of 124 countries in the 2015 Human Capital Index released last Wednesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which measured the capacity of economies to maximize their talent pool.
WEF’s latest Human Capital report, which “quantifies how countries are developing and deploying their human capital,” saw the Philippines jump 20 notches from its standing in the inaugural edition of the index in 2013.
“A nation’s human capital endowment—the skills and capacities that reside in people and that are put to productive use—can be a more important determinant of its long term economic success than virtually any other resource,” the report read.
Envisioning a better education policy and labor force planning for all countries, the Genova-based WEF rated human capital development according to various standards. Indicators, which focused on education and workforce distribution among different age groups, included enrolment rate, quality of education, educational attainment, economic participation and skills.
The Philippines, which recorded an overall score of 71.24, performed best in the 15-24 age bracket after ranking 20th. It ranked 33rd in the 65 and over group, 40th in 55 to 64, and 51st in the 25 to 54 bracket.
The country fared lower in the under-15 age group at 73rd partly due to low rate of enrolment in primary education.
“Talent will be the key factor linking innovation, competitiveness and growth in the 21st century, and we must each understand better the global talent value chain,” the report added.
Although the Philippines reached the mid-range of overall index scores, it failed to enter the 80-percent threshold in terms of the “ability to nurture talent through education, skills development and deployment at all stages of the human life cycle.” Only 14 countries made it to the cutoff.
Finland, which ranked second in the first edition of the global list, topped all other countries in this year’s index after scoring 86 percent. Former topnotcher Switzerland landed on 3rd place, while Norway, Canada and Japan also cracked the top five.
“Human capital is critical not only to the productivity of society but also the functioning of its political, social and civic institutions, understanding its current state and capacity is valuable to a wide variety of stakeholders,” the report added. AC