Asia-Pacific's Most Optimistic Workers

LinkedIn: Filipinos among most confident in Asia-Pacific on opportunities to get ahead 

Manila Standard
28 November 2018


LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has just revealed its inaugural LinkedIn Opportunity Index in the Asia Pacific region where it has more than 153 million members including six million in the Philippines.

The Index is a composite measure that seeks to understand how people perceive opportunity and more importantly, barriers that may prevent them from getting to those opportunities. The research surveyed over 11,000 respondents in nine markets in the Asia Pacific region - Australia, Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

The Philippines ranked third along with the Chinese Mainland on the LinkedIn Opportunity Index, with Indonesia and India taking the top two spots.

On the other hand, more developed markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia trailed in the Index as people in these markets expressed concerns over the economic outlook, and generally felt more cautious about their chances of accessing and achieving success with opportunities that are relevant to them.

“We believe access to opportunity should be universal and for everyone. With the inaugural LinkedIn Opportunity Index, our aim is to gain an insight into the aspirations of people across the Asia Pacific region, how they feel about the opportunities they want to pursue, as well as the barriers that may stand in their way. The growing workforce in the region is a key asset that, if harnessed effectively, is going to continue to drive the economies. Over time, by tracking people’s perception of opportunity and the barriers they face, we hope we can continue to facilitate more of a balance between demand and supply in the opportunity marketplace,” said Olivier Legrand, Managing Director, LinkedIn in Asia Pacific.

Key Highlights of LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2018:

- Starting own business is top opportunity for respondents in the Philippines

More than half, or 53 percent, of respondents in the Philippines see “starting my own business” as their definition of opportunity. They are similar to respondents in Indonesia (50%) who are interested in entrepreneurial pursuits. In contrast, respondents in Australia (13%), Hong Kong (13%) and Japan (7%) are least likely to embark on new ventures.

Similar to many respondents in APAC, many respondents in the Philippines hope to achieve or maintain work-life balance. A significant 44 percent of respondents in the country have identified “having a job which offers good work-life balance” as their ultimate definition of opportunity, slightly above the APAC average of 40 percent.

A significant 37 percent of respondents in the Philippines also interpret their ultimate opportunity as being able to learn a new skill. In an environment concerned with the impact of AI/automation and other shifts in the labour ecosystem, professionals also recognise that with jobs rapidly evolving, they need to upskill to stay relevant.

- Respondents in the Philippines cite financial status as top barrier to opportunity

Similar to the rest of APAC, a significant number of respondents in Philippines (46 percent) believe that their less optimal financial situation is the top obstacle to their access to opportunity.

While APAC respondents cited barriers to opportunity such as lack of a strong network and connections, a difficult job market, and lack of required professional skills, respondents in the Philippines ranked innate or psychological reasons such as fear of failure (24 percent) and lack of confidence (20 percent) as bigger hurdles to overcome.

- The Philippines believes diligence is currency to get ahead in life

Similar to more than 90 percent of APAC respondents, 96 percent of respondents in the Philippines believe in working hard to get ahead in life. Other attributes respondents in the country consider as important to advance in life include the willingness to embrace change (93 percent), social equality (91 percent), level of education (87 percent), and knowing the right people or having the right connections (85 percent).

“The barriers to realising opportunities in life are very real, and despite the diversity of the Asia Pacific region, there are more similarities than differences when it comes to our hopes and aspirations. The good news is that no matter what opportunities mean for each one of us, we can count on our community for help. Whether it is learning a new skill, networking or sharing guidance, we can all help one another to unlock and create opportunities,” added Legrand.

PH to be upper miidle income economy

Philippines set to become upper middle-income economy by 2019 


Julito G. Rada
Manila Standard
18 September 2018



The sustained economic growth will enable the Philippines to join the ranks of upper-middle-income economies by 2019, the government’s economic managers said Tuesday.

The economic team said strong macroeconomic fundamentals coupled with massive infrastructure spending by the Duterte administration would keep the economy robust in the face of domestic and external headwinds that threaten to stifle growth.

“The Philippine economy is strong and the growth momentum can be sustained by policy and fiscal reforms implemented by the government,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said during the Philippine Economic Briefing held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“We expect the infrastructure program to hit a stride in the coming months,” Dominguez said.

National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said an upward growth trajectory remained possible because the economy was more broad-based now, driven not just by consumption but also investments.

Pernia said the country could become an upper middle-income economy by 2019, adding the government was “more than on track” to meet this target.

“Government spending continues to boost economic activity,” Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.

“Our expansionary fiscal policy is prudent, sustainable, and supportive of development objectives,” he said.

Diokno said with a robust growth target of 7 percent to 8 percent in the next five years, the Philippine economy would be the fastest growing among the top five Asean economies.   He said this would be supported by strong fiscal performance. 

“The revenue effort is projected to increase from 15.7 percent in 2017 to as high as 17.6 percent in 2022,” he said. 

“In nominal terms, revenue collection will rise from close to P2.5 trillion in 2017 to as much as P4.6 trillion in 2022,” Diokno said.

Government spending is expected to surge from just over P2.8 trillion in 2017 to as high as P5.4 trillion in 2022. Diokno said with a strategy to keep the deficit at 3 percent of GDP in 2018 and eventually to 3.2 percent in 2019, the strong momentum in infrastructure spending was poised to be sustained.

Dominguez said the implementation of the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program would ensure good revenue flows for the government.  The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law took effect in January, which cut personal income taxes but raised the excise tax on tobacco, fuel, alcohol, automobile and sweetened beverages.

“The government also is not suffering from deficits and we have a very good credit rating,” Dominguez said. The Philippines currently enjoys investment grade ratings from global debt watchers Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings.

Dominguez also cited the country’s low indebtedness, high gross international reserves, and high domestic liquidity.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the economy experienced 78 quarters of uninterrupted growth, although the challenge was how to sustain this momentum.

The economy grew by 6.3 percent in the first half, lower than the expected 7 percent to 8 percent targeted by the country’s economic managers at the start of the year.