INFORMATION technology-business-process outsourcing (IT-BPO)-related jobs are no longer the “most lucrative” for college students—who will soon finish their studies and join the labor market this year—as they have been overtaken by three other fields, according to the results of a new study released by JobStreet.com on Wednesday.
The 2017 JobStreet.com Fresh Graduates Report said law or legal-service work is now the “highest paying” careers for university graduates, offering a gross monthly salary of P27,124 last year from P21,232 in 2015. These include contract analyst, paralegal/law clerk and legal research positions.
Next are health-care professions—medical technology, nursing aide, and occupational therapy—from P20,048 two years ago to P23,216 in 2016.
Third are journalism-related, such as content writer, translator and junior brand writer, with P21,777 as a basic salary each month compared to the 2015 rate of P19,808.
From being a consistent topnotcher for three years, IT-BPO specialists have settled in the fourth spot, with mean earnings experiencing a slight decrease to P21,703 from P22,567.
“But don’t think that their salary dropped. It’s the pay-hike level that actually decreased,” JobStreet.com Country Manager in the Philippines Philip Gioca told the BusinessMirror. “Before, they increased by nine percent. Now, the increase is only five percent”.
While IT-BPO has remained the biggest provider of jobs in the country, which accounted for more than 60 percent of fresh-graduate employment opportunities, it has come to terms on the offered salary rate.
“I think the supply of IT-BPO related graduates list are a lot, and the industry has stabilized,” he said. “It is more united now in terms of what is the minimum number or percentage increase across, so that it can regulate more of the entrance and exit of employees.”
Completing the top 10 roster are careers in education, with an average salary of P21,457 per month; actuarial science, P21,048; training and development, P20,838; banking and financial services, P20,092; public relations, P20,055; and advertising/media planning, P19,960.
Apart from law, banking and advertising are the new entrants in the list that showed a robust increase in their monthly pay, from P17,449 and P18,653 in 2015, respectively. Most notable, however, is education that rose by over 50 percent from just P13,459 two years ago.
Gioca said this is a good sign that educators, alongside the health-care professionals, in the country are now being paid decently. These talents have been reported as among the underpaid workers in the country over the past recent years. Hence, “brain drain” has been apparent in these labor markets.