Statistics professionals see thriving employment prospects

MANILA, Philippines — The outsourcing industry boom has created more opportunities for Filipinos in different fields, taking up a considerable portion of the 1.011 million new jobs in the Philippines as of October.

This year, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) estimates that 84,000 new jobs will be created by the sector.

As the industry continues to grow and diversify, jobs other than customer service providers will be added. The knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), in particular, has opened job opportunities that require skilled workers with specific qualifications. One of the professions that the sector can look at – aside from lawyers and nurses – is statisticians.

“Aside from market research companies, which require statisticians to analyze data for its research, these professionals can work for financial BPO companies, which have begun to locate in the country,” said Germaine Reyes, Synergy Business Consultancy managing director. “Despite the profession’s decline in popularity, statisticians continue to be sought after by different industries in the country. In addition, statistical analysts are required in most BPOs to analyze and forecast call volume and project resource requirements for clients.”

According to the 2009 annual report of the UP School of Statistics, the number of undergraduate students produced by the institution range from 80–100. Moreover, according to a paper presented in the 10th National Convention on Statistics (NCS) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), as of 2007, 18 schools offer academic programs in Statistics. Masteral and doctorate programs are concentrated in Luzon. Furthermore, the number of enrolled students in statistics was dramatically lower than those enrolled in mathematics. As an example, in 2001, over 4,845 students were enrolled in mathematics, while only 1,317 were enrolled in statistics.

“The youth should recognize that taking up statistics as their undergraduate course presents many employment prospects, not limited to the BPO industry. One can explore different fields of work with a single discipline like Statistics. It has high employability, actually,” said Reyes.

One statistics professional who has realized the breadth of opportunities in this discipline is Joana Duhaylungsod, who is currently working as a research analyst in Synergy. Duhaylungsod graduated early 2010 from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman with an undergraduate degree in BS Statistics.

“I was looking for a field to work in as we have so many options since there’s a lot of employment possibilities in Statistics,” said Duhaylungsod. “I was previously looking at the banking, market research, and analytics industries to work in. My first priority was to work in the banking industry as at that time, I thought that statistics was closely related to finance.” Eventually, she picked a field where she will be comfortable, which was market research.

UP School of Statistics Dean Dr. Erniel Barrios shares that there are many opportunities for statisticians in different industries such as in finance, pharmaceutical, health, manufacturing, quality control, government, telecommunications, credit investigation, agriculture, and biotechnology. “Statistics continues to be relevant, as it is an important aspect in businesses in terms of aiding in decision-making, risk management, and investing,” Dr. Barrios said.

Duhaylungsod handles consumer research projects that involve developing products to make them more appealing to consumers.

This is also true with Julie Amor Jardin, a research operations associate in Synergy. With her more than six years of experience as a statistician in market research, she said that she has seen many brands that have become successful because of the work that they put in. In her capacity, sampling and ensuring data accuracy are statistical disciplines she employs. –Manila Bulletin