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THE
Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) excluded
companies hiring for abroad in their jobs expo to focus
on generating local employment.
“They
[other companies] already got that [overseas employment]
covered,” said Chris Ward, president of the
Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (Philippines)
Inc. (ANZCham) at the two-day expo that began Wednesday.
Ward,
who heads the JFC jobs expo committee, said they expect
more trade to come into the Philippines that requires
more skilled workers.
“The
Philippines remain our home base for most of us so
expect this expo [to be] a long-term program,” he said.
The JFC
is on its second year as an organizer of this biannual
event that allows companies to process possible
employees.
Ward
said the 44 companies in the two-day job expo at the
TriNoma shopping center are mostly now focused on hiring
an estimated 4,000 employees.
Of 9,200
applicants during the expo last year, 4,000 were hired,
according to Ward. He said they expect a 10-percent
increase in the number of people getting hired this
year.
However,
JFC executives on Tuesday said only four companies who
participated in last year’s job expo said they managed
to hire somebody on the spot and 44 said they did not.
Most of
the companies in this year’s expo in Quezon City are in
the call-center sector of the business-process
outsourcing industry numbering 15, three are in
engineering, two in manufacturing, and the rest (one
each) are in the services sector.
Ward
said they expect more companies in the mining and
chemicals industry to either join the expo or look for
local talents.
“We’re
also talking about bringing the expo to Cebu City next
year.”
Ward
said an expected demand for more workers could come from
between 40 to 50 Australian mining companies eyeing the
Philippines for investment.
That
would add to the current 12 Australian mining firms
already included in the government Mining and
Geosciences Bureau list of 31 First Tier Projects.
“The
Philippines is the fifth-largest country in the world in
terms of mineral source and that attracts many companies
in Australia,” Ward said on Wednesday. He added that
these companies would demand highly skilled workers
either for local employment or for Australia.
“But
we’d rather make sure something happens here in the
Philippines first,” he said.
Aside
from the ANZCham, other members of the JFC are the
American Chamber of Commerce of the Phils. Inc.; the
Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Phils. Inc., the
European Chamber of Commerce of the Phils. Inc.; the
Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Phils.
Inc.; and the Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Phils.
Inc. Ward said ANZCham itself represent 275 companies
with a million workers. |
