|
By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
Though there is supposed to be a mismatch
between jobs available and the qualifications of graduates, nobody
has ever bothered to find out exactly how many “qualified”
workers in which fields of specialization do the local industries
really need, Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Employers’
Confederation of the Philippines, told The Manila Times.
He is, however, hopeful that with the recently
set up government Task Force on Education, the problem of the
availability of qualified workforce will be gradually addressed.
The Personnel Management Association of the
Philippines (PMAP) says industries suffering from high turnover
rates these days include pharmaceuticals, banking, consumer goods,
hotels and restaurants, electronics and semiconductors, and
telecommunications and computers. About 33 percent to 59 percent of
employees leaving their jobs in these industries, according to a
PMAP survey, have gone abroad.
Task Force Education was established by
Executive Order 652. It seeks to improve and retrain teachers,
lessen the number of dropouts, and ensure that the Filipino
family’s investments in the country’s educational system get the
best possible returns, such as jobs.
“There is a big mismatch in job availabilities
and the number of people that are actually qualified and able to
perform what is expected of them, but with the task force and the
concerted efforts of the private sector, the problem on brain drain
would be eventually resolved,” Ortiz-Luis told The Manila Times in
an interview.
Joint Foreign Chambers
On the other hand, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC)
has urged the government and the private sectors to develop mining
engineers, environmentalists, hospitality and health professionals
and other science and technology graduates rather than just focus on
call centers.
The JFC comprises the American, New Zealand,
Australian, Canadian and British business communities in the
country. It urges the Philippines to take advantage of these sunrise
industries by preparing a pool of S&T talents since these are
the new breed of professionals that the chambers’ corporate
members are looking for.
Leslie Stokes, Chairman of the British Chamber
of Commerce said more than the voice BPOs, investors from the UK are
now looking for geologists, mining engineers, environmentalists,
accountants, tourism specialists and medical professionals.
“Right now, these are what [our] foreign
investors are looking for. They need to be sure these skilled people
are available before they expand their existing businesses in the
Philippines. The lack of training here and qualified people are
driving these investors away,” Stokes said.
Stokes said that in order to address the job
mismatch, the government and the private sector should come up with
a systematic strategy to hone the talents and skills of students
before they graduate.
Henry Schumacher, vice-president of the British
Chamber of Commerce, said his group wants to be part of a technology
curriculum in which intensive training and preparation for specific
lines of work will be given to the workforce.
“Apart from their English proficiency, workers
should have more to offer and meet the current and future needs of
the foreign investors,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher said these investors always think
twice about locating and investing in the Philippines if their
companies would still need to import highly skilled people because
there are not enough of them here.
Rob Sears, American Chamber executive director,
said foreign firms now would still have to train their Filipino
employees for six to nine months to raise their qualifications to
international standards.
“Having this workforce trained even before
they step out of college will be the Philippines’ major attraction
to the investors,” Sears said.
Human Capital Club
Last year, the European Chambers of Commerce of
the Philippines’ Human Capital Club estimated that local companies
are incurring additional costs of at least P1 billion in recruiting
and training new staff to replace those who have left to work
abroad.
Workforce scarcity has more than doubled
following the continued migration of Filipino professionals abroad,
a new European Chamber of Commerce study disclosed on Wednesday
showed.
Human Capital Club Chairman and ECCP Board
Member Richard Eldridge said that 43 percent of companies the
chamber has surveyed last year considered the scarcity of skilled
labor as its primary problem. In 2006, the same survey showed that
only 15 percent of companies indicated it as a concern.
Eldridge said that there is a projection that
one million new jobs will be available over the next three years in
several key industries but studies conducted through HCC indicated
that an average of 79,000 Filipino 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 when an employee leaves
a company, it will have to spend at least P15,000 to find and train
a suitable replacement.
Further, Eldridge stressed that if the migration
of qualified personnel continues, several key industries will be hit
with staffing problems including information technology, finance and
accounting, and health care.
“The business process outsourcing industry
alone has a demand for at least 600,000 new employees by 2010. There
is also projected large staffing requirement across several other
rapidly growing industries such as health care, retirement, medical
tourism and the creative industries,” Eldridge said.
The HCC is a platform within ECCP that seeks to
address the job mismatch problem Philippine-based companies are
facing. It also works on strategies 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.
Serious brain drain
Andrew Freris, chief economist of BNP Paribas, a
major European bank, said that the local economy’s current growth
is not enough to offset the Philippine brain drain.
Freraris said that despite the large chunk
contributed by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the country’s
economy, the negative impact is already being felt, like the
continuous decrease of competent workforce.
“The costs it imposes include the potential
loss of educated and skilled workers to the economy, demographic
consequences, as well as the social cost of broken families,”
Freris said.
Although 58 percent of OFWs are employed abroad
as household, factory, or construction workers, their jobs do not
indicate their present qualifications or educational attainment,
Freris said.
“Exporting domestics and cleaners does not
reflect the skill levels of the workers involved. It reflects the
demand overseas for these skills. The resultant mismatch of skills
also reflects market consideration as their productivity in a
different job is higher outside than inside the Philippines,”
Freris said.
|
