By John Reczon Calay
A report from online jobs portal JobStreet.com said 2018 is expected to be “good year for the Philippine job market” as there now indications of increased hiring and job-hunting activities.
Now on its second year, the Job Outlook Report is based on a survey to both employers and candidates conducted last January. Representing various position levels, specializations, company sizes, and industries, 293 company representatives and 575 candidates participated in the study.
The report asked companies of their job market outlook for this year using a 7-point scale. The employers averaged 5.01, showing an increase in outlook optimism in contrast to last year’s findings. Candidates maintained their optimism at 4.68.
The positive sentiment was seen as 60 percent of Philippine companies claim to be expanding and hiring more personnel, while 88 percent of talents will be either monitor the job market for openings or applying jobs this year.
Increase in job postings is also seen resulting to confidence among employers. IT-enabled services, retail, and manufacturing ? the top three hiring industries in the country ? experienced a 14-percent increase year-on-year.
However, candidates also expressed concerns about their job-hunting journey, saying that increased competition in their fields and diversification of skills and jobs are most likely to happen. Searching and applying for good job opportunities, thus, may be more challenging this 2018.
The study also found one reason why employees will actively search for other opportunities this year: the benefits they most prefer are not necessarily offered to them by their present employers.
Almost 80 percent of candidates pointed to health and medical insurance as their desired work benefit for themselves and their dependents, though 52 percent said they already enjoy these benefits. Meanwhile, 86 percent of the candidate respondents listed family care leave as their desired time-off; however, only 13% enjoy this leave benefit.
The first batch of K-12 graduates, who are to graduate this March to April, makes job-searching activities more competitive as they will now join the pool of job hunters.
