DOLE: No cause for alarm

LABOR officials are on the alert for the adverse effects of the global financial meltdown on jobs—here and abroad.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is aware that local garments and electronics export firms and service exports such as call centers whose main clients are in the United States will be affected somewhat because of the financial crisis there.

But not to worry, says Gillian Joyce G. Virata, Executive Director, Information and Research, Business Processing Association Philippines, as increasingly more call-center seats are waiting to be filled here.

It is a “supply-constrained industry,” she said at the Asian Institute of Management forum.

By 2010, from 300,000 to 600,000 call-center staff will be needed, Virata says, adding the industry will contribute 8 percent to the GDP by then much like Filipinos working abroad do now.

The DOLE is prepared to protect and ensure the employment and welfare of Filipino workers, here and abroad, says Labor Secretary Marianito D. Roque.

As for overseas employment, there is no cause for alarm, he says, as nearly 3,000 Filipinos leave each day for jobs abroad.

Indeed, he said, there is “no massive displacement” and the deployment of Filipinos abroad “remains robust.”

In a worst-case scenario, about 50,000 out of 130,000 Filipinos working in cruise ships may lose their jobs as Americans and Europeans cut down on expensive vacations.

“Our analysis is that cruise ships are one of those to be greatly affected,” says Labor Assistant Secretary Ma. Teresa Soriano.

So far, not much displacement related to the financial crisis had been reported by Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in 34 countries, she says.

Roque said those who are back because of the financial crisis are still part of the average 1,000 Filipinos who return home each month, many of them because their contracts had expired.

Employment termination this year, including those adversely affected by the financial crisis, is at the same level as that of 2007, he said, adding retrenchments remain normal.

If anything, deployment abroad is increasing: 1.116 million jobs from January to October 2008, up a robust 25.5 percent compared to the 888,339 Filipinos deployed worldwide in the same period last year.

Remittances also soared to a record high of $12.3 billion from January to September this year, representing a 17.1-percent growth above the remittance record in the same period in 2007.

Soriano said the jobs of two million Filipinos in the Middle East remain secure because countries there are financially liquid. Ditto for Europe where Filipinos work in essential services such as health care.

The labor markets in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guam and Japan are stable and even expanding.

Seafarers are not at risk because “the maritime sector is still experiencing shortage of seafarers,” Roque said. Those who lost jobs in cruise ships have been placed with other vessels while others are under process for deployment.

In the US, Filipino hotel, casino and agricultural workers are vulnerable if they are under temporary working visas. Elsewhere, also vulnerable are those in South Korean and Taiwanese factories that cater to the US market.

Filipinos in essential services are secured, Soriano said, adding, “Filipinos are highly active in searching for alternative employment in host countries.”

Job opportunities abound in other countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, France, Norway and Sweden. In two years, about 40,000 jobs will be available in Australia and New Zealand and Guam will open up 20,000 slots starting in 2010.

In 2007 there were 8.762 million Filipinos in 194 countries, 3.7 million of them permanent migrants, 4.1 million temporary workers and about 900,000 irregulars (or undocumented, mostly in Saudi Arabia, United States, Malaysia, France and the United Arab Emirates).

Seven out of 10 of them are land-based and in highly paid jobs.

Still, part of the P500 million DOLE has set aside for livelihood programs in 2009 will be for displaced Filipino workers here and abroad.

“We will register displaced workers and the database will serve as reference for employment either here or abroad, or for self-employment if they are not qualified,” Soriano said. “Those having visas will be facilitated for overseas employment.”

Over a thousand Filipinos who lost their jobs in Taiwan and returned home since October have been profiled.

Labor market displacements are closely monitored in host countries for possible redeployment to new niche markets or to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Guam.

For local workers, DOLE gives livelihood assistance to those who opt to set up business enterprises, and skills upgrading and scholarships to those who want to embark on new occupations.

Affected workers are assisted in finding local or overseas jobs or in skills upgrading and self-employment projects. They are provided with legal services in claiming unpaid salaries, benefits and other monetary claims.

DOLE’s Workers Income Augmentation Program helps workers set up livelihood projects. Its Adjustment Measures Program assists local companies and workers threatened or displaced by the global economic crisis.

DOLE has identified key employment generators that will need skilled workers until 2010. These are in agribusiness (about two million jobs in the next five years), computer technology (1.083 million), hotels and restaurants (more than 400,000), medical tourism (128,000), health services (58,000), mining (39,000) and aviation (27,000). –Paul M. Icamina, Special Reports Editor, Manila Times