Demand for Socioemotional Skills in the Philippine Labor Market

Reports an increasing skills mismatch in the Philippine work force, with rapidly growing firms in innovative sectors and located in large urban areas the most likely to report difficulty finding workers with the necessary skills. Among firms that report difficulty hiring workers, the most frequently cited reason is inadequate job skills, followed by high employee wage expectations and lack of applicants. The specific skills that employers most value when hiring, but are unable to find, comprise primarily socioemotional skills, including interpersonal and communication skills and a strong work ethic; firms less frequently report challenges finding workers with the right technical and vocational skills. More firms train their workers in socioemotional skills than in technical skills, a finding consistent with the greater difficulty in finding employees with socioemotional skills. The apparent socioemotional skills deficit implies that the Philippine education system should place greater emphasis on the development of these skills to equip students with competences demanded by the labor market.