Invest early in human capital for a more productive Filipino workforce

Building human capital—the acquisition of health, knowledge, skills and experience throughout a person’s life—is crucial for the present and future workforce to reach their full potential as productive members of society.

This requires an urgent call for sustained multi-sectoral human capital investments as the Philippines continuously lags behind its neighbor countries with a Human Capital Index (HCI) of 0.52, stating a risk in an adult’s productivity potential. With this, the country’s long-time goal of being an upper middle-income country may fall short given its poor performance in human capital outcome indicators.

In the alarming report on “The Philippines Human Capital Review,” the World Bank revealed that the Philippines is facing a critical point as the demographic shift inclines more on a fast-growing percentage of working age people until 2045 or what is also known as the demographic sweet spot. The window of opportunity to reap a time-limited demographic dividend is rapidly closing and the population projections suggest that the country has only one generation (20 to 25 years) left before it does. This demographic transition urgently positions the country to benefit from an advanced human capital as this will ensure productivity in the future working age population.

There are a lot of factors that limit the development of human capital, such as unequal access to education and health care, low-quality jobs and persistent poverty, among others. These barriers demand for investments focusing on key interventions addressing the optimal nutrition and learning handicaps that stunt children’s life-long potential. The youth should be assured of safety and education throughout their learning journey, in which they can carry on as resilient and healthy working adults.

Economic growth will sharply accelerate with a bigger high-income workforce and a less dependent population. With this, it is possible for the government to allocate and optimize resources for economic development and social services. The national strategies and immediate holistic investments should intensely focus on the early development of both maternal and child health, foundational skills and social protection, all of which will leave an impact on the growth of human capital.

World Bank recommends the improvement of job quality that aligns the skills of the youth and adults with the market demands to accelerate economic growth, as well as a whole-of-government approach that ensures effective early childhood development.

‘Demographic time bomb’

It is notable that aiming for a demographic dividend is no easy task, especially with the narrow window of opportunity left to act upon this urgent matter that will critically impose a threat to our future Filipino workforce.

The time is ripe for a public-private partnership for the Philippines to harness its demographic dividend. The government must have an effective population management and invest early in human capital, despite it being acquired over an entire lifetime as it is built most effectively when greater brain plasticity is present among the young, which enables them to acquire foundational skills.

Through multi-dimensional partnerships and investments, the Philippines can achieve sustainable and inclusive growth while leveraging its demographic dividend composed of the working age population.

A well-educated and healthy workforce can commendably contribute to our economic growth as they are more motivated to innovate and seek employment opportunities. It is imperative to direct our focus and efforts in building the most important assets of our economy for an equitable society—given the demographic time bomb awaiting ahead of the country’s goal in ensuring the shared benefits of an improved economy.

The Management Association of the Philippines Campaign Against Malnutrition And Child Stunting (Camacs) continuously takes efforts to contribute to the improvement of the overall nutritional status of the Filipino children and pushes for interventions to eradicate malnutrition and child stunting through various collaborations with the government and the private sector.

The worrying report of World Bank calls for everyone to jump in on Phase 2 of Camacs this year where mobilization is being initiated. All antichild stunting advocates are encouraged to pick a role in this very important journey, either as a funder, a volunteer, or both for food security, health care, nutrition, breastfeeding, water, livelihood and governance. We should act swiftly together in building the human capital as early as now when the children are most vulnerable.

As businesses, we need to do our part to enable our children to take advantage of the possibilities awaiting for them in the years ahead. From their ranks will come our future workforce, our country’s future leaders. INQ

The author is the immediate past president of MAP and the founding partner and CEO of Du-Baladad and Associates or BDB Law. Feedback at [email protected] and [email protected].