THE EnTrEprEnEur

The Philippines is known for its young and productive labor force, but recent data suggest the country may also join its Asian neighbors with large graying population in the coming years.

Although we are still decades away from the problem besetting other Asian economies such as Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Thailand with large elderly population, we should take advantage of our still relatively young labor force to boost productivity and achieve demographic dividend before it is too late.

The Asian Development Bank estimates that by 2050, one in four people in Asia and the Pacific will be over 60 years old and that the number of persons with ages over 60 would triple between 2010 and 2050 to reach nearly 1.3 billion people.

The Philippines has always been identified as one of the countries with the youngest mean age in the world at 25 years, compared with Japan’s 48 years or the United States’ 38 years. Recent data suggest the trend may change in the coming years.

Per the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Philippines is now in a

“demographic transition” because of its declining level of fertility from 2.7 children per woman in 2017 to 1.9 in 2022. The number of registered live births in the country fell to 1.36 million in 2021 from 1.53 million in 2020 and 1.79 million in 2012.

The trend suggests that despite our large number of men and women in marriage age today, many choose to stay single. Our current fertility rate of 1.9 children per woman is now below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, which is needed to replenish the population in the years to come.

The Commission on Population had noted that the Philippine “population pyramid” was constricting at the bottom and increasing at the top, as the population of senior citizens doubled in the last 20 years. This is because the population now has a lower level of fertility, as evidenced by the decline in numbers of children under five years old.

The structural change in mean age could be a boon for the country if the young population becomes effective workers. They can turn into a lost generation, however, if they are not employed or are underemployed, according to POPCOM.

To sustain the stability of our pension system, the labor force should be bigger than the number of retirees or pensioners. Per PSA data, our aging index—the percentage of persons aged 60 years and over per 100 persons under the age of 15 years—increased 4.2 points from 23.4 in 2015 to 27.6 in 2020. This means there is one person aged 60 years and over for every four children under 15 years old.

The percentage of Filipinos under 15 dropped from 37 percent in 2000 to 30.7 percent in 2020, while Filipinos 60 years of age and older comprised 9.2 million or 8.5 percent of the population in 2020, or double the 4.5 million or 5.9 percent registered in 2000.

This is why it is crucial for the government and the private sector to harness the skills of our young labor force at this stage. We need to create more jobs for the fresh graduates so that they can join the labor force and become productive members of society and build enough savings for their needs when they grow old.

The National Economic and Development Authority agrees that to achieve the goals of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, we should maximize the country’s demographic dividend by investing in lifelong learning, job creation and

How to have happy shareholders

John Mangun

OuTSIDE THE BOX

One of the first “rules” I learned as a new York stockbroker back in the 1970s was that you never turn down free food or free drink and the best place to find those was at a listed company’s Annual Shareholders Meeting.

Back in the good old days of the ’90s, ASMs were different. The San Miguel Shareholders Meetings under Andres Soriano III, held at the then Westin Philippine Plaza hotel, were fiestas. One “little-old-lady” shareholder always complained during the question period about how her Magnolia ice cream was too sweet, and she wanted the recipe changed. Soriano always treated her with great respect.

Amid rumors that he had stolen the company money and moved to the bars of Bangkok, Andrew Tan stood tall at a Megaworld standing room only meeting at the Manila increasing employability.

The same company officials that bend their knees for the bankers that approve loans apparently forget that shareholders are silent, passive company partners. The shareholders who put their money on the table for corporate expansion and for company acquisitions should be treated with at least the same respect as the bankers and customers.

Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon made the point during a highlevel meeting for the celebration of the World Population Day to mark the global population topping the 8-billion mark.

Neda underscored the importance of eradicating poverty, promoting lifelong learning and transformative education, providing accessible healthcare, ensuring gender equality and fostering sustainable economic growth.

Because of its expanding working population, the Philippines is expected to become the top economic performer in the region this year. The Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) sees the Philippines growing 6.2 percent in 2023, faster than the performance of other Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their three major trading partners. The government forecasts an annual growth of 6 percent to 7 percent in 2023 and 6.5 percent to 8 percent from 2024 to 2028. At this pace, the Philippines may become an uppermiddle-income economy in two years and a prosperous nation by 2040, as envisioned by Ambisyon Natin 2040. A stronger education system, meanwhile, will equip our young population for the next decades of progress. I have no doubt that we as a nation will see this through.

For comments, send e-mail to mbv_secretariat@vistaland.com.ph or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph

The same company officials that bend their knees for the bankers that approve loans apparently forget that shareholders are silent, passive company partners. The shareholders who put their money on the table for corporate expansion and for company acquisitions should be treated with at least the same respect as the bankers and customers.

Peninsula to confirm shareholders’ confidence. One time, before the meeting started, I was looking at a display of a company’s new canned food products. A man approached me and asked what I thought of the labeling. I told him that in-house products that had an identity separate from the mother company were a good idea. I also told him I was making good profits trading the company’s stock. It was at this meeting when the company presented what was to be ultimately its final tragedy—Coastal Mall. The man was Uniwide founder Jimmy Gow.

Maybe it is because I am a “Boomer” whose clients had to wait three days for an official hard copy confirming a trade execution. Perhaps it is the result of the Internet, but companies that have listed in the past 10 years do not seem to care much about their shareholders.

There is no doubt that shareholders big and small can be a pain in the butt for corporate officials.

The shareholder complaining about Magnolia ice cream may have a justified opinion, but that cannot be the basis for corporate decision-making as long as hundreds of thousands of other consumers are buying the product. But that is not the point.

Further, because listed corporation leaders are often clueless about how the stock market works, they forget that the reason their stock holdings put them on the list of the “Richest Filipinos” was because the shareholders bought the stock and therefore increased the price. The reason the value of the CEO’s one billion shares went from P50 billion to P10 billion was because the stock market—the shareholders—did not think the stock was worth P50.00 a share.

A business, be it a sari-sari store or a multi-billion revenue corporation, has only one purpose—to make a profit. However, a listed company has another purpose—to increase shareholder value, meaning shareholders making money owning the