Employment opportunities abound in 2019
With the private sector’s continued infrastructure developments and the government’s Build, Build, Build program, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 said employment opportunities will continue to rise this year.
As investments pour in Cebu, Efren Carreon, Neda 7 Regional Director, said there would be robust demand for workers.
“Our employment rate is doing good. In fact, there are many people coming from the other regions and other provinces coming to us because they’re looking for jobs,” Carreon said.
For 2019, the construction industry in Cebu is forecasted to generate more jobs and the demand will trickle to other areas in the country.
“There’s a shortage of workers. So other companies hire employees in some parts of the Visayas and as far as Mindanao,” he said.
Carreon said that construction firms are scouting the regions for more workers to fuel the steady growth of new buildings and structures in the Central Visayas.
“Our feedback from the construction industry is that they’re having difficulties finding workers because of the buildings that are being constructed at the same time,” he said.
For Carreon, more jobs will equate to more income for the working class which in turn propel the local economy through spending activities.
“The private sector’s construction is booming and the government’s Build, Build, Build program is also contributing so practically the demand for workers is high. This is good because there is additional income,” he said.
Rey Calooy, president of Filipino-Cebuano Business Club Inc., said there will be a rise in employment opportunities within the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector particularly in the area of digital marketing and information and technology security. He said many companies are now setting up their own digital teams to take care of their online marketing activities instead of hiring agencies to do these jobs for them.
Moreover, a lot of SMEs are also hiring people who will take care of their IT security. “Cybersecurity is a hot issue among companies and even small businesses are investing in technology and IT-skilled people to protect the business in this digital age,” said Calooy.
Records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that Central Visayas had an employment rate of 95.2 percent as of October 2018 following the business expansion in industries like tourism, retail, hospitality and information technology and business process management.
The region’s unemployment rate was estimated at 4.8 percent and underemployment rate at 16 percent.