ZAMBOANGA CITY—A Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) official disclosed that recent survey conducted by the DOLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) showed that managers, establishment, owners and top executives of private establishments in the country encountered recruitment difficulties as they searched for good experienced staff.

DOLE regional director Carlos Boteros said the survey result showed that nearly one in every four establishments, or 22.9 percent, had experienced difficulties in recruiting qualified job applicants to fill job openings in their establishments in the past three years.

A great majority of them also thought that this problem will persist in the future, Boteros revealed.

In the pattern of distribution, Boteros said hard-to-fill vacancies were heavily concentrated in three major occupation groups.

Two were in the high-end jobs, which accounted for a disproportionately large share at 41 percent, and managers, managing proprietors and supervisor groups, which composed about one-fifth of the total share at 19.4 percent.

Boteros said technical and associate professionals group accounted for the third largest, or 15.2 percent, while the other major occupation groups shared less than 10 percent each.

It is interesting to note that 97.3 percent of the total hard-to-fill occupations also appeared in the vital occupation list which made them even more critical considering their supply situation, according to Boteros.

Employers also indicated that it took them three to seven months to fill the vacancies, he added.

Asked why the vacancies existed for a long period of time, respondents  indicated several reasons, among which are shortage of qualified applicants that meet the competency requirements or those that required professional license, 70.7 percent; high or unreasonable asking salary of applicants, 8 percent; perception that most of the qualified applicants preferred overseas employment over local employment, 7.3 percent; stiff competition for few available talents among local  firms, 4.7 percent; and “location” or “work schedule” problems, 2.5 percent.

The top hard-to-fill occupations that remained unfilled for more than one year in nonagricultural establishments with 20 or more workers are air-traffic controllers; aircraft pilots, navigators and flight engineers; personnel and human resource development officials; geologists and geophysicists; pharmacists; industrial robot controllers; decorators and commercial designers; bacteriologists, pharmacologists, pathologists and related workers; technical and vocational instructors/trainors; safety, health and quality inspectors; architects; photographers, image and sound recording equipment operators, and  science and math teaching professionals. 

Boteros said the employers have recommended several measures to solve such problems they encountered in looking for qualified people.

These are  enhancement  of quality education to make courses responsive to the needs of most industries, including curriculum revisions in partnership with the industry sector focusing on key competence such as English language proficiency, mathematics, science and computer application technology; closer supervision of nursing schools, increases in the Commission on Higher Education budget and subsidies to private education for more scholarship grants in critical courses; expansion of the manpower skills development, particularly vocational and technical education; and regular  conduct of job fairs which enables them to seek out qualified applicants.

Boteros said the employers also proposed the regulation of overseas employment of selected professional and skilled workers.

Though highly unusual, Boteros said this proposal imposes a minimum number of years of service before a professional worker can be deployed overseas.

Review of labor laws that will allow employers to adopt more flexible employment and hiring arrangements is also proposed by the employers, according to Boteros.

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ZAMBOANGA CITY—A Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) official disclosed that recent survey conducted by the DOLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) showed that managers, establishment, owners and top executives of private establishments in the country encountered recruitment difficulties as they searched for good experienced staff.

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