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By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez Reporter
CONCERN over the scarcity of
qualified workers has risen by more than two-fold in the wake of the
continued departure of Filipino professionals for abroad, a European
Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) study showed
Wednesday.
Richard Eldridge, Human Capital
Club (HCC) chairman and ECCP board member, said that 43 percent of
chamber member-companies surveyed this year considered the scarcity
of skilled labor as their foremost problem. Last year, the same
survey showed only 15 percent of companies were concerned about
this.
Eldridge said one million new
jobs would be created over the next three years in several key
industries but studies conducted by HCC indicated that an average
79,000 professionals have been leaving the country since 2000 to
work abroad.
“The future for companies is in
their ability to attract, retain and develop their human capital.
Right now companies are posting a combined loss of at least a
billion pesos a year due to the continued migration of Filipino
professionals abroad,” Eldridge said.
The ECCP estimates that once an
employee leaves a company, management will have to spend at least
P15,000 to find and train a suitable replacement.
Eldridge said if the migration of
qualified personnel continues, several key industries will be hit
with staffing problems including information technology, finance and
accounting, and healthcare.
“The business process
outsourcing industry alone has a demand for at least 600,000 new
employees by 2010. There is also projected large staffing
requirements across several other rapidly growing industries such as
healthcare, retirement, medical tourism and the creative
industries,” he said.
The HCC is a platform within ECCP
that seeks to address the job mismatch problem Philippine based
companies are facing while also working on strategies that aim to
manage human capital challenges.
“[We] should be looking at the
recruitment process, the educational system, training, work
standards, and productivity. There must also be ways for companies
to provide adequate work packages to make their people stay,”
Eldridge said.
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