Malacañang clarified on Thursday that a proposal to hire foreigners for certain job vacancies in the country is still being studied.
“So pinag-aaralan pa lang po, titignan kung talagang nararapat. At iyong pagpapasya po niyan will be the outcome of dialogue and consultation,” Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said during a press conference.
He likewise said that the request to allow foreigners to fill openings in 15 categories came from industry players and not the Department of Labor and Employment.
“Iyong industriya, pinapaaral lang po ito sa ating pamahalaan para mapagtulungan ng industriya at ng pamahalaan kung paano mami-meet iyong apparent shortage,” he said.
An Agence France-Presse report quoted Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz as saying that its most recent survey, which projected labor demand for the next seven years, found that there were 272 “in-demand” occupations, such as nursing and teaching, and 110 “hard-to-fill” occupations overall.
In the category of skilled labor, employers said there were 40 “hard-to-fill” jobs, and asked the government to allow 15 professions to be filled by foreign hires, she said in a statement.
Other roles in the list of 15 that could be filled by immigrants include chemists, environmental planners, guidance counselors, librarians, and assembly technicians.
“By ensuring the continued availability of qualified workers, we are making our industries competitive,” Baldoz added, while stressing that the needs are temporary.
Coloma, however, said this could serve as a “signal” for Filipino professionals abroad to return to the country to fill this gap and for schools to match the demand for highly-skilled workers.
“Ang focus po ng gobyerno ay iyong pababain ang walang trabaho o magdagdag ng trabaho. Hindi po focus ng gobyerno iyong tanggalan ng oportunidad ang mga mamamayan at i-offer sa mga foreigner, hindi po,” he said.
Alan Tanjusay, spokesman for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the country’s largest labor union, said its officials are aware of the skilled labor shortages, but doubted local employers could compete with the higher wages offered abroad.
“You have to contend with low salaries,” he told AFP.
“Another factor is the jobs mismatch [arising from] the outdated curricula of vocational training schools and the oversubscription to certain courses like nursing and teachers.”
The proposal came as the joblessness remained high in the Philippines despite accelerating economic growth. — with a report from Agence France-Presse/BM, GMA News
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