MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday said micro-credentials prove to be vital for Filipino workers to remain competitive in the workforce.

The chief executive made this remark in a meeting with members of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), where workers’ skills development and learning recovery programs were tackled.

“Yung micro-credentials, it’s not a four-year course. It’s not a degree. But you can present this to qualify for a job,” said President Marcos.

Micro-credentials are short skills-focused qualifications that seek to support learners to skill up in a wide array of knowledge areas.

“It’s really skills training. We have to upskill everybody. We need to have a system that will work with everyone,” the chief executive pointed out.

In the meeting, the President raised the need to retrain and reskill overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who wish to come back to the country for good.

The President cited the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry as an example, where workers have ramped up efforts to upskill for offshore medical jobs.

Marcos, who presided over the meeting, reported that 16 innovation centers are with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), hence the need to support Filipino workers in upskilling to stay competitive.

Scaling up micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) also took center stage in the meeting.

The PSAC stressed the need to provide them access to money, markets and mentoring and enable them to undertake digital transformation.

President Marcos has committed to helping them flourish by streamlining existing processes and making it easier for MSMEs to thrive.

Among those present in the meeting with PSAC officials were Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.

Also present were Aboitiz Group CEO Sabin M. Aboitiz, JG Summit CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei, as well as representatives from McKinsey & Company. (PND)