More construction workers needed

THERE is currently a demand for at least 100,000 construction workers nationwide, not only because of the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program but also because of the plan to rebuild Marawi City.

On the sidelines of the Kapehan sa Dabaw press conference yesterday, June 11, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Compostela Valley Specialist Mafel Joanne Gamale said President Rodrigo Duterte had mandated Tesda to train at least 100,000 construction workers.

Gamale said the Tesda Central Office had yet to allocate targets of trained workers per region but that the produced manpower will be used to supplement the upcoming demand of construction workers for the rehabilitation of Marawi.

Locally, the jobs that are in-demand under the construction sector include masonry, plumbing, electrical installation and maintenance, construction painting, and tail setting. Although wielding is under the metals and engineering sector, it was for now included as among the in-demand construction-related jobs.

In an earlier interview with Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (Pice) Davao City Chapter Board of Director Engineer Eddie Fuentes, he said that the shortage of construction workers, not just in the region, but nationwide is primarily caused by skilled workers and professionals in the construction section working abroad instead.

Fuentes said with the many infrastructure projects of the country, it is most likely that it will experience shortage as the good graduates produced by the different colleges and universities opt to go abroad.

On the other hand, jobs that are in-demand abroad are that of welders, cooks, baristas, slaughterers, and construction workers.

“For now, we are still short of baristas but we still continue to train more with the increasing demand abroad,” Gamale said. JPA