Online Hiring Plummets by 31% in the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Online hiring in the Philippines has shown a huge decline over the past year, according to the Monster Employment Index (MEI) Philippines, which is being released for the first time. 

The Index reported a 31% decline in activity between April 2014 and April 2015, with a 20% month-on-month decline as well, between March and April 2015. 

The MEI, a gauge of online job posting activity, also records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity across the Philippines. In April 2015, the BPO/ITES industry showed the highest activity, although this was still in decline overall at -2%. The Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary industry showed a steep decline in online hiring activity, at -51% year-on-year. 

The second lowest growth industry was Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment at -43%. 

“The Monster Employment Index Philippines has registered a decline of 31% in the past year, with the BPO/ITES industry showing the most amount of promise. The Philippines’ economy has recently emerged as a global hub for BPO, currently employing over one million people,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East Southeast Asia and Hong Kong). 

“As production and manufacturing jobs continue their steady decline, it is important for the country to focus on high growth industries to continue to create jobs and encourage growth. The recent approval of the Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Roadmap 2016 initiative is a step in the right direction and incredible vital for the country’s prospects.

“Additionally, the Philippines banking sector is expected to deepen its ties with its ASEAN counterparts, so as to strengthen its own financial institutions. This should see a boost in Finance & Accounting jobs in the future.”

In April 2015, the only occupation to register positive growth is Marketing & Communications roles at 6%, followed by Customer Service at -5%. The lowest growth occupation is Engineering/Production and Real Estate at -44%. This is followed by Hospitality & Travel jobs at -33%.

The Monster Employment Index Philippines is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.