The Global Social Mobility Report 2020
Published Feb 1, 2020 12:00 am
BETTER DAYS
By SENATOR SONNY ANGARA
Senator Sonny Angara
The World Economic Forum recently released its maiden Global Social Mobility Index, where the Philippines scored a 51.7 out of a possible hundred. The score makes us the 62nd country out of the 82 included. In Southeast Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand were ahead of us, while we remained ahead of Indonesia and Laos.
Social mobility refers to the way people move through a social class system. One form is horizontal mobility, where a person changes in position, but not in social class. A person can be a supervisor, and then transfer to another company to do the same job. The more important kind of social mobility, however, is the vertical one. This is when a person or group moves up and enjoys a higher level of prosperity than what they were born into. A good example is when a poor janitor becomes a successful entrepreneur later in life, through hard work and opportunities.
The WEF report considered several factors for social mobility—health; education access, quality, and equity; lifelong learning; technology access; work opportunities and conditions; social protection and the inclusivity of institutions. Unfortunately, we ranked in the bottom half in all of these factors (except for lifelong learning, where we were 25th in the world), underscoring how realizing the dream of a better life for themselves and their loved ones is an uphill battle for many Filipinos.
This isn’t to say, however, that nothing is being done or has been done. In fact, over the years, decisive steps have been taken to make life easier for Filipinos around the country. For instance, in terms of health, we have the Universal Health Care Act signed last year, which aims to give wider access to quality health services, while lowering financial concerns. With every Filipino covered by Philhealth, preventive healthcare services such as free check-ups, lab tests, and lowered prices for some medicines (or even having them free) will be in place in the hope of making us healthy again.
When it comes to education, we aim to respond to the challenge posed by our dismal results in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) with the convening of another Congressional Oversight Committee on Education, or Edcom II. This will help us study, address, and improve issues about our educational system. Nutrition programs for students and the Student Financial Assistance Program have also been given larger budgets this year. The same goes for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the implementation of the Tulong Trabaho Act, which mandates the provision of free technical-vocational training. `
When it comes to expanding work opportunities through greater technology access, there are some notable initiatives from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), whose budget we increased by P2 billion for 2020. For instance, there is the Shared Service Facilities Program, which aims to provide micro- to medium-sized enterprises, or MSMEs, with access to machinery, skill-building, and government resources that can help them go to the next level with their businesses. There is also the roll-out of several Industry 4.0 initiatives, focused on introducing 4th Industrial Revolution technologies to existing Filipino companies. The technological innovations brought about by these programs, and the skill-building needed to properly take advantage of the innovations, promise to help upskill our workers. More importantly, we hope these interventions lead to more jobs, considering that we ranked 52nd in terms of work opportunities. This, we believe, is key to greatly improving social mobility in the country.
We will continue to work on improving our education and healthcare systems. But on top of that, much more focus will now be devoted to creating more quality jobs for our people. Aside from inviting all stakeholders to the table and fast-tracking industrial innovations, we now aim to help transition our economy from one that primarily consumes mostly imported goods to one that builds more homegrown products and provides world-class services, maximizing technological advancements wherever they are applicable. If we can produce more, then we can create more work opportunities which is at the heart of social mobility.
E-mail: [email protected]| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara
Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 15 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 6 as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He recently won another term in the Senate.
Senator Sonny Angara
The World Economic Forum recently released its maiden Global Social Mobility Index, where the Philippines scored a 51.7 out of a possible hundred. The score makes us the 62nd country out of the 82 included. In Southeast Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand were ahead of us, while we remained ahead of Indonesia and Laos.
Social mobility refers to the way people move through a social class system. One form is horizontal mobility, where a person changes in position, but not in social class. A person can be a supervisor, and then transfer to another company to do the same job. The more important kind of social mobility, however, is the vertical one. This is when a person or group moves up and enjoys a higher level of prosperity than what they were born into. A good example is when a poor janitor becomes a successful entrepreneur later in life, through hard work and opportunities.
The WEF report considered several factors for social mobility—health; education access, quality, and equity; lifelong learning; technology access; work opportunities and conditions; social protection and the inclusivity of institutions. Unfortunately, we ranked in the bottom half in all of these factors (except for lifelong learning, where we were 25th in the world), underscoring how realizing the dream of a better life for themselves and their loved ones is an uphill battle for many Filipinos.
This isn’t to say, however, that nothing is being done or has been done. In fact, over the years, decisive steps have been taken to make life easier for Filipinos around the country. For instance, in terms of health, we have the Universal Health Care Act signed last year, which aims to give wider access to quality health services, while lowering financial concerns. With every Filipino covered by Philhealth, preventive healthcare services such as free check-ups, lab tests, and lowered prices for some medicines (or even having them free) will be in place in the hope of making us healthy again.
When it comes to education, we aim to respond to the challenge posed by our dismal results in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) with the convening of another Congressional Oversight Committee on Education, or Edcom II. This will help us study, address, and improve issues about our educational system. Nutrition programs for students and the Student Financial Assistance Program have also been given larger budgets this year. The same goes for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the implementation of the Tulong Trabaho Act, which mandates the provision of free technical-vocational training. `
When it comes to expanding work opportunities through greater technology access, there are some notable initiatives from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), whose budget we increased by P2 billion for 2020. For instance, there is the Shared Service Facilities Program, which aims to provide micro- to medium-sized enterprises, or MSMEs, with access to machinery, skill-building, and government resources that can help them go to the next level with their businesses. There is also the roll-out of several Industry 4.0 initiatives, focused on introducing 4th Industrial Revolution technologies to existing Filipino companies. The technological innovations brought about by these programs, and the skill-building needed to properly take advantage of the innovations, promise to help upskill our workers. More importantly, we hope these interventions lead to more jobs, considering that we ranked 52nd in terms of work opportunities. This, we believe, is key to greatly improving social mobility in the country.
We will continue to work on improving our education and healthcare systems. But on top of that, much more focus will now be devoted to creating more quality jobs for our people. Aside from inviting all stakeholders to the table and fast-tracking industrial innovations, we now aim to help transition our economy from one that primarily consumes mostly imported goods to one that builds more homegrown products and provides world-class services, maximizing technological advancements wherever they are applicable. If we can produce more, then we can create more work opportunities which is at the heart of social mobility.
E-mail: [email protected]| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara
Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 15 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 6 as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He recently won another term in the Senate.