According to latest estimates from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and International Labor Organization (ILO), close to 3 million youth, aged 15-24, are unemployed and a lot more are under-employed. As in many countries young people are more vulnerable to being unemployed especially in times of economic instability.

In search of better-paying jobs, around 3,000 young professionals and recent university graduates are flying out of the country to work overseas especially in the Middle East, Western Europe and United States.

Entrepreneurship among Filipino youth is rather unpopular. The high cost of starting up a small business - from registration, licensing to loan rates among local banks - and the "uneducation" of youth in enterprise development are the major causes. Yet, with the recent move of the Government to streamline business registrations and the participation of the private sector in the micro-financing sector, this situation might reverse in the coming years. 

For more information go to one of the following websites

• Department of Labor and Employment
  
• Securities and Exchange Commission
  
• Department of Trade and Industry  and its SME Agenda
  
• ILO-CIDA Project on Promoting Youth Employment in the Philippines
  
• ILO Sub-Regional Office for South-East Asia and the Pacific
  
• Philippine Business for Social Progress:
  - Corporate Volunteers for Enterprise Development Program
  - SME Credit Program
  
• Asian Institute of Management's Asian Center for Entrepreneurship
  

Websites of our Partner/Support organisations