World | Philippines
Filipinos need more job avenues despite call centre surge, say analysts
At a spartan hall converted from a closed textile company east of Manila, hundreds of Filipinos milled around small corporate booths looking for work.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 July 28, 2006
Manila: At a spartan hall converted from a closed textile company east of Manila, hundreds of Filipinos milled around small corporate booths looking for work.
The longest lines at the job fair were for call centre or business process outsourcing firms.
Despite the odd hours employees sit down to work while the rest of the country gets ready for bed the call centre sector is the current favourite among job seekers, from the annual wave of 400,000 college graduates to more mature workers.
"I earn double here than in my previous job," said Jasmin, 35, who quit her position as a clerk at city hall to handle calls from customers of a major telecoms company in the United States.
Above-average salaries and fast promotions are some of the attractions at call centres and outsourcing firms, which have expanded to include legal, data and medical transcription, as well as animation and software development.
This year, the outsourcing sector is expected to employ about 266,000 people in the developing Southeast Asian country, surging from about 2,000 five years ago.
The number is likely to hit nearly 1.1 million by 2010, according to the Business Processing Association Philippines.
But with call centres hiring just three to five people for every 100 applicants a reflection of the declining quality of education in the Philippines some analysts say the industry is far from the being the cure of the country's unemployment problem.
"Of course, it will generate jobs but the majority of our unemployed don't have adequate skills," said Emmanuel Esguerra, associate professor at the University of the Philippines' School of Economics.
Esguerra said only a quarter of the 3-4 million Filipinos without work had more than a high school education.
Quality of labour is a major issue facing the Philippines, where budget deficits and the government's debt of about $76 billion (Dh279 billion) have limited state spending on basic education.
Patricia Sto Tomas, who recently quit as labour secretary, said Manila had set aside 500 million pesos (Dh33.33 million) to retrain "near hires" in the outsourcing industry those needing more computer training or language skills.
Despite President Gloria Arroyo's vow in 2004 to create 1-1.5 million jobs every year until the end of her term in 2010, progress remains slow in an economy driven by remittances, domestic demand and exports of electronic and farm products.
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