Building Human Capital : Lessons from Country Experiences – Philippines
Human capital is the Philippines’ most important resource. Two examples of its benefit to the country: remittances from skilled and semi-skilled workers who work abroad amount to about 10 percent of its GDP, and it is one of the top destinations fo...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/358071595407669216/Building-Human-Capital-Lessons-from-Country-Experiences-Philippines http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34207 |
| Summary: | Human capital is the Philippines’ most
important resource. Two examples of its benefit to the
country: remittances from skilled and semi-skilled workers
who work abroad amount to about 10 percent of its GDP, and
it is one of the top destinations for foreign enterprises
seeking educated workers for outsourcing their business
processes. However, the Philippines has been losing its
human capital edge over the past decades, with critical gaps
in access to social services and in the quality of those
services. In 2018, its rating on the Human Capital Index, a
composite measure based on survival rates, the quantity and
quality of schooling, and health status, was 0.55, putting
it just ahead of Indonesia but well below Malaysia,
Thailand, and Vietnam. Within the past decade, the
Philippines adopted an ambitious national social agenda
that, if implemented well, funded adequately, and monitored
assiduously, could put it back on a more robust human
development path. All efforts should be made, however, to
safeguard this promising agenda from the implementation
problems that evidence suggests have subverted the country’s
past performance, weak governance, selfish political
interest, and widespread corruption. Sound policies won’t
lead to progress unless they are implemented well across the
agencies and levels of government. |
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