High school grads urged to take construction-related courses

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz is encouraging high school graduates to take training courses related to construction which is in demand not only here but abroad.

“Construction was identified by stakeholders, including the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to have tremendous job-generating potential in the coming years,” Baldoz said as the department prepares to intensify its career advocacy program for school year 2012-2013.

In the Bureau of Labor and Employment’s (BLE) report, Baldoz said Filipinos who are into construction careers earn monthly salary ranging from P13,000 to 40,000 per month. Salaries of construction workers can even go up as high as P50,000 for highly-trained workers.

The labor chief said tuition fees for courses related to construction only cost about P3,000 to P15,000, depending on the duration and type of training.

“In these times when the labor market has gone increasingly competitive, there are many construction-related jobs that pay well and favor experience and hard work, instead of degrees. Some of these jobs which only require minimum training cost but guarantee a return of high income are computer aided design (CAD) operators, electricians, and metal fabrication Technicians,” Baldoz said.

The BLE reported that some computer schools offer courses on Auto CAD for 48 to 60 hours at a range of P4,500 to P5,600 training fee.

Locally, salaries for a CAD operator at the entry level ranges from P10,000 to P24,000 per month, plus allowances, and other incentives. There are numerous opportunities for CAD operators since architectural and engineering design are now mostly translated into detailed CAD drawings.

On the other hand, the training cost for electricians ranges from P3,000 to P5,000 in public technical-vocational schools. Entry level salary for electricians ranges from P8,000 to P12,000 per month and may even go up to P15,000 per month for those highly-trained and experienced electricians.

Among all occupations in the construction industry, Filipino electricians are highly in-demand whether here or abroad due to their impeccable expertise in electronic wiring and maintenance of equipment, appliances, apparatus, and fixtures.

Baldoz also said that high school graduates interested in becoming welders or metal fabrication technicians, who earn a monthly salary of P8,000 up to P20,000, can avail themselves of the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute Scholarship Grant.

She said in the overseas market, Filipino welders are highly-in-demand and are among the top occupations with the highest recorded deployment in the construction industry. -Mina Diaz, Daily Tribune