By Manuel T. Cayon / Mindanao Bureau Chief
DAVAO CITY—The software industry here would like to double its current employment as the number of outsourcing companies inquiring about the possibility of relocating here is increasing.
Hireable manpower in the city continues to be a “come-on” for prospective company relocatees. On the conservative side, Samuel Matunog, president of the Software Industry Association of Davao City, said an additional 5,000 new agents and other industry workers would suffice to meet the actual targets of existing companies here.
Estimates place the number at between 33,000 and 35,000 of agents and other workers in the information and technology industry, but the manpower requirement continued to be unfilled.
Inquiries have been coming in droves and the demand for the skilled manpower has become varied, from call-center agents to programmers and administrative workers.
“It’s not only call-center agents now that are needed. Some companies have inquired if we have a manpower pool with skills in mathematics and science,” he added.
He said the manpower need remained the top consideration among companies to relocate or establish their first Philippine operations, and Mindanao has become the favorite scouting ground for manpower pooling.
Two big outsourcing companies plan to start operations this month, and while Matunog declined to name them yet, he said the two are foreign companies with “unlimited” manpower requirement.
The requirement is expected to shoot further up as the Philippine Export Zone Authority (Peza) also indicated that 28 buildings in the city solely dedicated for outsourcing operations would be granted the Peza accreditation. An area of buildings granted this accreditation would be covered by the investment privileges and import-export tax exemptions of the national and the host local government.
The lack of manpower has also widened opportunity for noncollege graduates to work in the outsourcing industry.
“Everybody can be trained for the job,” he said. The outsourcing sector has been noted for absorbing workers of any course and specialization, as work opportunities for them were mostly dim or unavailable.
The lack of enough manpower for the outsourcing companies has also fuelled the problem of poaching, or pirating the agents and workers of other companies. “Poaching will continue to be a problem as it has been in the other industries.”
“Companies would continue to source out their talents, especially the skilled and trained ones, as the latter also seek opportunities for skill advancement and higher pay,” he said.