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Filipinos among most positive in pursuing prospects in Asia-Pacific
MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos are among the most positive in Asia Pacific in terms of gaining access and pursuing opportunities as the Philippines ranked third out of nine economies in the LinkedIn Opportunity Index.
The index, issued by the online professional network for the first time, showed the Philippines placed third along with mainland China.
While the Philippines was behind Indonesia which topped the list, and India on second place, it was ahead of other markets on the fifth to ninth spots such as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Through the index, LinkedIn seeks to understand how individuals perceive opportunity, and the barriers preventing them from getting and taking advantage of opportunities.
To rank the nine markets, LinkedIn tapped independent market research firm GfK to conduct a study covering over 11,000 respondents aged 18 to 60 from September to October this year.
Respondents were asked about perceptions around opportunity such as availability of in-market opportunities, accessibility of the opportunity, and if they were confident in achieving success, as well as perceptions on socio-economic and lifestyle factors such as outlook on the economy and financial situation over the next 12 months, and quality of life specific to happiness and compared to their parents.
The index showed more than half or 53 percent of respondents in the Philippines see “starting my own business” as their definition of opportunity.
It also showed that 44 percent of respondents in the Philippines believe “having a job which offers good work-life balance” is an opportunity.
In terms of barriers to opportunity, 46 percent of respondents in the Philippines identified financial status as the main hurdle, followed by fear of failure (24 percent) and lack of confidence (20 percent).
To get ahead in life, 96 percent of respondents in the Philippines believe working hard is the key.
Other important attributes identified by respondents in the Philippines to advance in life are willingness to embrace change (93 percent), social equality (91 percent), level of education (87 percent) and having the right connections (85 percent).
“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,” Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn managing director for Asia Pacific, said.
At present, LinkedIn has more than 590 million members across the globe.
Within Asia Pacific, it has over 153 million members including six million in the Philippines.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/11/30/1872820/filipinos-among-most-positive-pursuing-prospects-asia-pacific#IG50OYdmPAukFhRR.99