By Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine
Star) | Updated September 28, 2015 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Rising
investments in human capital amid the rising number of young population would
help groom the Philippines to become a major economic powerhouse over the long
term.
Editha Martin, executive director of
the Investor Relations Office (IRO), said the government’s growing budget for
human capital development shows the intention to further improve the quality of
workforce.
She said rising investments in human
capital also reflects the government’s desire to make the economy reap the
potential demographic dividends.
“Consistently rising investments in
health and education will help ensure that the Philippines does not miss out on
the opportunity offered by its entry to the demographic window,” she added.
Starting this year until 2050, the
Philippines is said to be within the “demographic window,” loosely defined as a
period when a great majority of the population are of working age.
Because the number of workforce far
outweighs that of dependents, the increase in incomes may accelerate.
But this can only happen if there is
good quality of labor force.
Under the Aquino administration, the
government’s budget allocations for education and health have risen
substantially year after year.
The budget for the Department of
Education increased 18.6 percent to P367.1 billion, while that of the
Department of Health went up 19.2 percent to P108.2 billion for this year.
Moreover, the budget for the
Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, which encourages school attendance
among children from poor households, is high in the government’s agenda. Its
budget of P62.3 billion for this year is six times the P10-billion allocation
in 2010.
For his part, Socioeconomic Planning
Secretary Arsenio Balisacan stressed the need to sustain the trend of rising
investments in human capital development.
“We need to understand that having a
fast growing working-age population is a boon for the economy, but only if we
do two things: invest more and more in human capital development and make sure
the job opportunities match the skills of the people,” Balisacan said.
The country’s chief economist also
highlighted the need to make education more accessible and to intensify
measures that will make the country’s investment climate more attractive.
Based on official projection, the
country’s working-age population (between 15 and 64 years old) this year
accounts for 66.6 percent of the total population of 101.6 million.
The share of the working-age
population is expected to rise to 68 percent of 110 million people in 2020, and
further to 70.6 percent of 125.3 people million in 2030.
Government strategies and
private-sector suggestions to further boost the country’s chances of reaping
demographic dividends would be discussed in more detail during the 28th
Philippine Economic Briefing on Sept. 30.
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