1 week Ago By N/A (Manila Bulletin)
A law that addresses the training and upskilling of the Filipino workforce to meet the demands of specific industries was signed by President Marcos on Nov. 7, 2024 as Republic Act No. 12063 or the Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework Act.
RA 12063, one of the priority measures in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), aims to address the skills gap in the labor force to develop a workforce ready for the requirements of the industry, and thus get employed faster. The President expressed confidence that the country’s workforce will improve as the EBET Framework Act will strengthen the workforce by focusing on upskilling and development. “By establishing a framework on career advancement and industry-relevant skills, this law directly addresses the issues of the lack of formal training and skill mismatches, ensuring that every Filipino can contribute and benefit from our nation’s growth,” President Marcos said.
The law, which will strengthen partnerships with the private sector, will align existing and new training programs with the requirements of industries. “The private sector will play a crucial role in ensuring that our workforce is properly equipped with the right skills to meet the demands of the industry,” the President said. It will provide incentives to participating enterprises.
Senators praised the signing into law of RA 12063, which is considered a significant milestone in the country’s effort to address the perennial problem of job-skills mismatch. Sen. Joel Villanueva, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resource Development, is the principal author and sponsor of the measure.
“The signing of this landmark legislation marks a crucial step in empowering our workforce and addressing unemployment and underemployment, which has long been a challenge in the Philippines,” Villanueva said. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data shows that the country’s unemployment rate has dropped to 3.7 percent in September 2024, from 4.
5 percent in September 2023. However, the increase in underemployment to 11.9 percent in September 2024 from 11.
2 percent in August 2024 indicates the problem of job-skills mismatch in the country. Although the law will focus on basic and mid-level skills to provide participants with practical training to prepare them for immediate employment, it is also expected to pave the way for more training programs focused on higher-level technology qualifications. Only seven percent of the current courses offered by technical and vocational schools offer advanced technology programs.
The EBET Act will especially strengthen enterprise-based training with different training programs such as General EBET, apprenticeship and upskilling. These programs have proven to be among the most effective in producing skilled workers, with employment rates reaching as high as 92 percent, according to studies on the employment of technical-vocational program graduates from 2020 and 2021. Successful candidates who demonstrate competence for the full or partial qualifications shall be awarded a National Certification or a Certificate of Competency.
With the implementation of this law, the workforce can be directed to faster employment and avoid being underemployed which will waste valuable human resource. The Labor Force Survey (LFS) released by the PSA showed that the employment rate in the Philippines rose to 96.3 percent in September this year, up from 95.
5 percent in the same period in 2023, representing an additional 2.2 million people employed. Even with the rising employment rate, it is encouraging to see that the government is pursuing more ways to solve unemployment and underemployment.
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