Person:
Igarashi, Takiko

Global Practice on Education
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Igarashi, Takiko
Fields of Specialization
Education policy, Skills development
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Global Practice on Education
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Last updated:January 31, 2023
Biography
Takiko Igarashi is an Education Specialist at the World Bank. Her specializations include skills development, basic education, education for disadvantaged groups, and trade and industrial development in developing countries. She works on various research and World Bank projects in human development sector. She has extensive field experience in Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Mongolia, Tanzania, Liberia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. Prior to the Bank, Takiko held her professional experiences at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, and United Nations Development Programme. Born in Japan, Takiko received her B.A. in law from Hosei University, Tokyo, was an exchange student at Truman State University, Missouri, and earned her M.A. in International Development from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo.

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    Investing in Skills to Promote Inclusive Growth in Mindanao
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-09) Rodriguez, Ruth; Acosta, Pablo; Schmillen, Achim; Igarashi, Takiko; Zapanta, Arianna
    In 2015, the World Bank embarked on a collaborative effort to understand and address the jobs challenge in Mindanao through the Mindanao Jobs Report (MJR). Good jobs — jobs that raise real income and lift people out of poverty — were needed for more than two million Mindanawons who were either unemployed or underemployed at the time of writing. In addition, large cohorts of youth would enter the labor force in the next few years and better jobs were needed for the many Mindanawons who were currently employed informally and who accounted for more than half of total employment in Mindanao. Following extensive consultations with many of Mindanao's leaders and stakeholders, the report came up with recommendations around the three areas, namely: (1) raising agricultural productivity and improving farm-to-market connectivity; (2) boosting human development; and (3) addressing drivers of conflict and fragility and building up institutions in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and conflict-affected areas.
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    Who Benefits from Dual Training Systems?: Evidence from the Philippines
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-05-03) Igarashi, Takiko; Acosta, Pablo
    Rising youth unemployment rates have been increasingly recognized as a serious challenge in developing and advanced economies, as the trend indicates a potential skills gap between the demands of the workforce and recent graduates. Effective dual education programs utilizing a combination of classroom instruction and practical skill training present an approach to developing a skilled workforce and meeting workforce demands. To evaluate the impact of the Philippine Dual Training System on labor market outcomes, this paper analyzes data from a recent survey tracking graduates from the Dual Training System and regular vocational training programs provided by technical vocational training institutes. The data analysis reveals that the Dual Training System has a significantly higher rate of return on labor market earnings compared with regular, classroom-only vocational training programs, particularly among high school graduates who did not perform well academically during basic education. The magnitude of the impact of the Dual Training System is also likely to increase in correlation with the intensity of the on-the-job component.
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    Developing Socioemotional Skills for the Philippines' Labor Market
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-09-22) Acosta, Pablo; Igarashi, Takiko; Olfindo, Rosechin; Rutkowski, Jan
    While the Philippines has achieved remarkable progress in raising the education level of its labor force, the standard proxy for educational attainment—years of formal schooling—is increasingly inadequate as a measure of workforce skills. About one-third of employers report being unable to fill vacancies due to lack of applicants with the requisite skills. Most of these “missing skills” are socioemotional skills,” also known as “non-cognitive skills”, “soft skills” or “behavioral skills.” Emerging international evidence suggests that socioemotional skills are increasingly crucial to the types of jobs being created by the global economy. The following study presents new evidence from employer and household surveys on the role of socioemotional skills in the Philippine labor market. The analysis reveals that: • Two-thirds of employers report difficulty in finding workers with adequate work ethics or appropriate interpersonal and communications skills. Firm-based training increasingly focuses on socioemotional skills. • The more educated and employed workers tend to score higher on measures of grit, decision-making, agreeableness, and extroversion. • Socioemotional skills are associated with an increase in average daily earnings, in particular for women, young workers, less-educated workers, and those employed in the service sector. • Higher levels of socioemotional skills are also correlated with a greater probability of being employed, having completed secondary education, and pursuing tertiary education. Studies suggest that primary school is the optimal age for shaping socioemotional skills, but the Philippines’ elementary education curriculum devotes limited resources to their development. Schools continue to be judged solely by students’ performance in cognitive achievement tests, but not on soft-skills competencies, and teachers are not appropriately trained to foster the development of them. Finally, interventions targeting workers entering the labor force can also effectively bolster their socioemotional skills, complementing effects to improve labor-market information and vocational counseling.