180,190 vacancies await jobseekers

MANILA, Philippines - Up to 180,190 vacancies await jobseekers nationwide, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday that the 180,190 job vacancies posted on PhilJobnet, the government’s official job and skills matching and job search facility, was a record high.

Citing data from the DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), Baldoz said a majority of the jobs posted in the PhilJobNet portal are for local employment.

“Of course there are also available overseas employment opportunities posted in the job portal, but our figure shows the continuing surge of opportunities in the local labor market,” she said, adding that the portal only recorded 102,902 vacancies in January.

She added that while the number of jobs rose, BLE only recorded 171,617 job applicants from January to October.

However, Baldoz said the number of workers advertising their skills for hire in the job portal has also been increasing.

Phil-JobNet is similar to the yellow pages or bulletin board where skilled persons and own-account workers advertise their skills and services.

The data provided by the BLE, which hosts the online job facility, showed that in October, the “hot jobs” included call center agents, with 22,144 vacancies; technical support staff (7,144); production/factory workers (6,599); product specialists (6,423); service crew (6,048); cashiers (5,379); merchandisers (4,453); sales clerks (4,282); customer service assistants (3,697); sales executives (2,342); security guards (2,243); customs representatives (2,000); utility workers (1,804); marketing specialists (1,580); janitors (1,469); laborers (1,425); promo salespersons (1,307); promo staff (1,302); maintenance crew (1,212); masons (1,095); software instructors (1,070); office clerks (1,040); stock clerks (1,026); warehouse clerks (1,020); production technicians (1,000); collectors (964); and drivers, government (909).

On the other hand, the top skills for hire registered during the month were service crew (3,558), cashiers (3,327), production machine operators (2,741), production/factory workers (2,718), sales clerks (2,657), salesladies (1,662), data encoders (1,316), welders (1,149), office clerks (1,064), staff nurses (840), merchandisers (717), baggers (610), call center agents (567), pipe fitters (510), secretaries (489), checkers (482), and customer service assistants (451).

Baldoz attributed the upsurge in the number of vacancies posted in the Phil-JobNet facility to the continuing campaign of the DOLE and its regional offices and the country’s Public Employment Service Offices for employers to post their job vacancies in the online job portal.

She also called on the youth to study aviation to enable the country to fill the growing need for commercial airline pilots here and abroad.

“Locally, a commercial airline first officer receives an average monthly salary of P175,000 while a captain’s monthly salary is estimated at around P275,000, not including the benefits airline companies provide,” she said.

She added that those with a degree in aviation have better employment prospects, since major airlines are increasingly hiring pilots with university degrees, preferably in airline-related courses.