THE government must increase its number of newly-trained construction workers by an average of 30,000 per year to meet increasing industry demands.
This after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) estimated the construction industry would continue to generate thousands of jobs up to 2022.
“If you look at the net employment generated in the construction sector, demand has been growing at more than 100,000 per year,” DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique R. Tutay said.
DOLE attributed this to the increasing number of construction projects by the private sector as well as of the government under its Build Build Build program.
Data from the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda) from 2014 to 2017 showed the average number of skilled workers who graduated from its skills training only numbered to 69,000.
In 2014, a total of 59,427 of the 74,555 people who availed themselves of Tesda’s technical-vocational education and training (TVET) graduatesd with skills related to construction.
This increased to 82,284 graduates in 2015 before decreasing to 56,292. The latest complete annual statistics of Tesda registered 78,262 TVET with construction-related skills in 2017.
To address the labor shortage, President Duterte ordered Tesda last week to increase the number of trainees for its construction program.
But, even without Duterte’s orders, Tesda has been intensifying its recruitment measure for construction skills training program, but with still lukewarm reception from potential trainees.
The most availed programs in Tesda are for non-manual jobs like Information and Communication Technology and Tourism (Hotel and Restaurant).
Labor groups attributed this to the reputation of construction-related jobs as being low- paying careers.
Based on the 2016 Occupational Wages Survey (OWS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the average monthly pay for construction workers nationwide ranges from P10,888 to P14,959.
The rate is almost the same as the P10,285 to P15,143 rate for construction workers in the first OWS conducted by PSA in 2014.
This indicates construction workers are still unable to command high wages despite the prevailing labor shortage in their sector.
Labor groups have been calling on the government to increase wages in the construction industry so it could attract more workers.