It is said that some employees are hired because of their technical skills, but fired due to their behaviors or attitudes, such as arriving late or showing a lack of commitment to achieve the firms’ goals. This complaint seems to be frequently mentioned during our many discussions with Filipino employers. But what does the hard evidence show, beyond anecdotal remarks?

Do Filipino employers have difficulty finding workers with the right “soft skills” (socio-emotional skills, right attitudes and behaviors)? And if so, do we have evidence that it leads to better pay? And how are employers, employees and government responding to these labor market signals? Few have gone beyond anecdotal evidence or investigated in depth regular employers’ surveys in this area. A new World Bank study called “Developing Socioemotional Skills for the Labor Market in the Philippines”, using Skills for Employability and Productivity or STEP surveys, addresses this gap. — blog.wb.org/blogs