The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is targeting to secure 1.2 million jobs from “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) projects before it embarks on a massive job fair for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East.
The DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) will meet with the departments of Transportation and Public Works and Highways and the Public-Private Partnership Center this week, to finalize their commitments for the job fair.
“We will find out during the meeting how many of their projects have already been approved, where it will be located, and their manpower requirements for it. This is so we could match the demand with the skills,” BLE Director Dominique R. Tutay told the BusinessMirror during the “Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan” fair it organized at the Quezon City Hall last Sunday.
“So, for example, if the project is based in Batangas, we will refer to it workers from Batangas,” Tutay added.
She said they already secured 7,000 jobs from the private sector for the job fair, which will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “By the second week of March, we hope to finalize the job vacancies for our [Middle East]job fair.” She said the government will conduct the job fair simultaneously with their profiling of their target clients in the Middle East.
Manpower shortage
The DOLE earlier said the job fair aims to entice the thousands of displaced OFWs in the Middle East to return to the country and at the same time address the manpower shortage in the local construction industry.
Tutay said the local construction industry is still in need of 100,000 workers. This comes even after employment in the construction industry rose by 6 percent to 3.53 million in 2017, from 3.33 million in 2016.
The demand for construction workers is expected to reach the million mark in the coming months as the government starts to implement its big-ticket infrastructure projects.
Currently, out of the 75 flagship in-frastructure projects of the government, only the new airport in Clark has broken ground.
Recruitment leader Lito Soriano lauded the initiative of the government to tap OFWs for the country’s construction boom. The president of LBS Recruitment Solutions, however, said the DOLE should only target displaced OFWs with the necessary skills.
“This is applicable for Saudi and Qatar because there are many [construction] workers there. In Kuwait this is not applicable since 80 percent of OFWs there are household service workers,” Soriano said.
In 2016 the DOLE reported at least 10,000 OFWs, mostly from Saudi-based construction firms, were displaced.
Earlier this month, it also reported at least 600 OFWs from Qatar were displaced, while at least 2,000 distressed OFWs from Kuwait were already repatriated.
Challenges
Tutay acknowledged, however, that there may be difficulties in tapping displaced OFWs for government infrastructure projects. For one, she said, those who have worked in foreign construction firms would have to settle for a big pay cut if they would like to stay in the Philippines for good.
“The salaries for the workers in the local construction industry are usually paid a little bit above minimum [wage]. Of course, returnees would expect high salaries, which we cannot offer,” Tutay said.
“This is why our profiling presents a challenge to us because we will ask [OFWs] to specify how low they can go in terms of wages and salaries,” she added.
She noted, however, that some local construction firms are willing to pay higher, depending on the skills of an applicant.
Based on the 2016 Occupational Wages Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), unskilled workers, including construction workers, are only paid P10,162 per month. This is way below the average salaries ranging from P20,400 to P61,200 given to OFWs in the Middle East.
“Ordinary construction workers earn about $400 to $450. Those with higher skills like welders and plumbers earn about $500. Engineers could earn as high as $1,200,” recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said.
Aside from wage woes, Tutay said, displaced OFWs abroad would also have to contend with age discrimination. She added returning OFWs abroad are usually aged above 40, while local companies would prefer to hire younger workers. Despite these challenges, the DOLE maintained that offering OFWs local employment options is a must as some popular destination countries are cutting back on hiring Filipino construction workers.
With fewer employment opportunities abroad, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said some OFWs might finally decide to stay in the Philippines for good.
“If their salaries would be the same or even slightly lower than what they earn abroad, they might decide to stay since this will also allow them to spend more time with their families,” Bello said in a previous media briefing.