DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

Vol. 2 No. 1

July 2012

Demand and Supply of Workers from

DOLE Administrative Records: First Quarter 2012
For the 1st quarter of 2012, the local manpower requirements showed a tremendous increase of 73.9% based on the total number of job vacancy postings culled from PHIL-JobNet. Opposite with the local, a decrease of 1.9% was observed
for overseas demand based on the number of approved job orders for land-based workers from the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA), as compared with the same quarter of 2011 data.
Except for the decreases of 3.1%, and 0.4% in PHIL-JobNets registered applicants and the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authoritys (TESDA) overall assessment rate of workers from various sectors, respectively, an upward trend
was observed in labor supply for the 1st quarter of 2012 as compared to the same quarter of 2011. Graduates of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) programs and services on education and training increased by 4.6%. The
National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) has an increased number of certificates issued to trained seafarers by 19% while
the number of licensed professionals at Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) registered an irregular trend due to
the ongoing data cleansing to reflect and capture live data on registered professionals.
Business Expectation Survey (BES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed a 7% decrease in the overall business
confidence index for the 1st quarter 2012, as compared with the figure in the same quarter of 2011, indicating that the
survey respondents have more positive outlook in the overall business activity in the economy during the 1st quarter of
the previous year.

I. MANPOWER DEMAND
A. Vacancies on PHIL-JobNet

TABLE 1 - Job Vacancies by Major Occupational

Group: 1st Quarter 2012
Ave. No. of
Vacancies

%
Share

Clerks

19,925

23.0

Trades & Related Workers

15,463

17.9

Laborers & Unskilled Workers

12,267

14.2

mand consisted mostly of job openings for Clerks; Trades

Professionals

10,145

11.7

and Related Workers; Laborers and Unskilled Workers;

Service Workers & Shop & Market

Sales Workers

9,614

11.1

Plant & Machine Operators &

Assemblers

7,055

8.2

Technicians & Assoc. Professionals

8,308

9.6

Officials of Government and Special

-Interest Organizations, Corporate
Executives, Managers , Managing
Proprietors and Supervisors

3,446

4.0

Special Occupations

294

0.3

Farmers, Forestry Workers &

Fishermen

18

0.0

86,535

100

The PHIL-JobNet posted an average total of 86,535

vacancies for the period of January to March 2012,
exhibiting an increase of 7.2% from the vacancies of
80,693 in the 4th quarter of 2011. Majority of the de-

Professionals; and Service Workers and Shop and Market

Sales Worker, whose combined figures accounted for
77.9% of the total vacancy figure. The remaining 22.1%
was distributed among Plant and Machine Operators
and Assemblers; Technicians and Associate Professionals; Officials of Government and Special Interest Organization, Corporate Executives, Managers, Managing Proprietors and Supervisors;

Special Occupations; and

Major Occupational Group

TOTAL
Source: DOLE-BLE PHIL-JobNet Database.

www.phil-job.net
The Labor Market Monitor is a quarterly publication of the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) that tracks the changes in the supply and demand for professionals,
skilled and unskilled workers as viewed from administrative data generated by DOLE agencies involved in skills training and certification, professional regulation,
employment facilitation, and overseas employment. This is a collaborative undertaking of the DOLE family of agencies (TESDA, POEA, OWWA, PRC, MTC, ILAB,
BLES and BLE), to integrate in one publication key performance indicators on labor market supply and demand. It also captures critical and emerging occupations for the purpose of labor market signaling and as basis for timely and meaningful policy and program interventions.

LABOR MARKET MONITOR - FIRST QUARTER 2012

Postings for local vacancies outnumbered that of
overseas job openings, accounting for 73.9% of the
total vacancies reported during the reference period.
FIGURE 1 - Total Vacancies Posted by Location of

Deployment: 1st Quarter 2012

Job openings for Call Center Agents had been on top

of the list for the past four (4) years, indicating the continuous expansion of the business activities of the BPO
industry in the country.
In 2011, it was also observed that vacancies for occupations such as domestic helper, production machine
operator, electrician and production/factory worker

Overseas
26.1%

were consistently on the top ten list. Areas of deployment for these occupations are the Middle East, US,

Local
73.9%

Europe, and Asian countries.

B. Overseas Demand Based on

Approved Job Orders

Number of
Vacancies

% Share

Local

63,949

73.9

Demand for Land-Based Workers

Overseas

22,586

26.1

A total of 200,010 active job orders were approved

86,535

100.0

during the 1st quarter of 2012. The bulk of these over-

Location

TOTAL

seas job openings were for Service Workers (44.2%),

Source: DOLE-BLE PHIL-JobNet Database.

Production & Related Workers (34.0%), and Professional Technical & Related Workers (14.8%).

Top 10 Vacancies
Of

the

various

vacancies

posted

by

different

employers on the PHIL-JobNet, the following occupa-

TABLE 3 - Approved Job Orders by Major Skills Group:

1st Quarter 2012

tions were on the top ten list accounting for 29.8% of

Number of
Job Orders

%
Share

Administrative & Managerial

Workers

755

0.4

Agricultural Animal Husbandry &

Poultry Workers, Fishermen &
Hunters

833

0.4

Clerical & Related

Workers

6,697

3.4

Production & Related Workers

67,981

34.0

Professional Technical & Related

Workers

29,638

14.8

Sales Workers

3,515

1.8

Major Skill

the average job vacancies posted:

Of the top 10 vacancies, 91.6% were for local employment while 8.4% were for overseas.

TABLE 2 - Top 10 Vacancies by Occupation:

1st Quarter 2012
Occupation

Local

Overseas

1.

Call Center Agent

9,961

2.

Domestic Helper

2,892

3.

Production Machine Operator

1,761

425

4.

Electrician

2,059

Service Workers

88,318

44.2

5.

Technical Support Staff

1,869

Others (NEC)

2,273

1.1

6.

Production/Factory Worker

1,700

7.

Carpenter

591

938

200,010

100.0

8.

Service Crew

831

506

9.

Merchandiser

972

297

1,024

10. Welder
Source: DOLE-BLE PHIL-JobNet Database.

TOTAL
Source: POEA.

Of the total approved job orders, 47,825 or 23.9% were

processed, leaving a balance of 152,185 or 76.1% unfilled job orders.

LABOR MARKET MONITOR - FIRST QUARTER 2012

Among the occupations that remained unfilled, the
following were on top of the list:
TABLE 4 - Top Ten Unfilled Job Orders
by Occupation/Skill: 1st Quarter 2012
Number of
Unfilled Job
Orders

Occupation/Skill

C. Prospective Overseas Demand

Based on POLO Intelligence
Reports
The

Philippine

Overseas

Labor

Offices

(POLOs)

reported a continuous demand for Overseas Filipino

Workers (OFWs) in the Middle East Region, particularly
in the construction and service sectors. The skills

Domestic Helpers & Related Household

Workers

57,653

Production and Related Workers (NEC)

11,192

Professional Nurses

7,234

TABLE 5 - Prospective Overseas Requirements for 2012

Waiters Bartenders and Related Workers

7,112

Charworkers Cleaners and Related

Workers

5,516

Major Occupational
Category

Wiremen Electrical

5,300

Plumbers and Pipe Fitters

4,962

Welders and Flame-Cutters

4,265

Cooks and Related Workers

4,185

Laborers/Helpers General

3,365

NEC - not elsewhere classified.

Source: POEA.

Occupations/skills which consistently remained on the

requirements in the said foreign markets remained

relatively the same with the previous year.

Workers (NEC); Professional Nurses; Plumbers and Pipe

Fitters; Wiremen Electrical; Welders and Flame Cutters;

United Arab
Emirates, Papua
New Guinea,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar,
Oman, Singapore,
Bahrain, Malaysia

Agricultural
Animal
Husbandry
and Forestry
Workers

Nursery worker and

gardener, general farm
worker, specialized
farmer, husbandry
agricultural and animal
worker

Japan, Saudi
Arabia, United
Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Cyprus,
Qatar, Canada,
Oman, New Zealand, Australia

Clerical and
related workers

Clerk, Receptionist,
travel agency clerk,
bookkeeper, cashier,
stock clerk, stenographers typist and teletypist, filing clerk, machine operator automatic/electronic data
processor

United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi

Arabia, Qatar,
Bahrain, Oman,
Macau, Malaysia,
Singapore

Production
and related
workers

Wireman electrical,
plumber and pipefitter,
welder and flame
cutter, laborer/helper
general, carpenter
joiners and parquetry
worker, machine fitter,
machine assembler,
precision instrument
maker, production
supervisor, general foreman, operator earthmoving and related
machinery, structural
and metal preparer and
erector, bricklayer,
mason and tile setter,
driver motor-vehicle,
construction worker,
rigger and cable splicer

Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, Qatar,
Taiwan, Kuwait,
Papua New
Guinea, Australia,
Canada, Malaysia,
Singapore, Japan,
Oman, Bahrain,
Brunei, Angola,
East Timor, Guam,
Iran, Libya,
Equatorial Guinea,
Sri Lanka, Eritrea,
New Caledonia

and Cooks & Related Workers. The required supply

were mostly for the Middle East markets. There is also a
demand for nurses in the United States of America, the
United Kingdom, and Canada. Meanwhile, job openings for Production Workers were concentrated in Taiwan and Korea.

Demand for Sea-Based Workers

The total deployment of sea-based workers for 2010
was 347,150, registering a 5.06% increase from 2009
(330,424), and a 32.7% increase from 2008 (261,614).

www.poea.gov.ph

Countries of
Destination

Administrative Assistant manager,

and Manage- general manager,
rial workers
project manager
(construction),
operations manager,
production manager

top 10 list of unfilled job orders for the past two quarters were Domestic Helpers; Production & Related

Industry/Sector/Skills
Requirement

LABOR MARKET MONITOR - FIRST QUARTER 2012

II. MANPOWER SUPPLY

Prospective Overseas Requirements (contd)

Major Occupational
Category
Professional,
Technical
and related
workers

Industry/Sector/Skills
Requirement
Professional Nurse,
electrical and electronic engineering technician, mechanical
engineering technician,
physiotherapist, occupational therapist, electrical and electronic
engineer, medical dental and veterinary related worker, civil engineer, mechanical technician, teacher, medical x-ray technician,
surveyor, geodetic engineer, metallurgical
technician

Countries of
Destination
Saudi Arabia,
United Arab
Emirates, Qatar,
Libya, Kuwait, Singapore, United
States, Malaysia,
Oman, Bahrain,
South Korea,
Papua New
Guinea, Japan,
Australia, Hong
Kong, Taiwan,
Brunei

Sales and
Salesman shop assistant
related work- and demonstrator, sales
ers
worker (nec), buyer,
salesman business service, salesman technical and service adviser,
sales manager, sales
supervisor, street vendor
and canvasser, news
vendor, insurance real
estate securities business services salesman,
salesman technical
commercial traveler

United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait,
Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Oman,
Bahrain,
Singapore, Jordan,
Malaysia, Australia, Papua New
Guinea

Service and
related
workers

United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait,
Qatar, Hiong
Kong, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore,
Malaysia, Bahrain,
Oman, Cyprus,
Taiwan, Brunei,
Jordan, Israel,
Canada

Domestic helper and

related household workers, waiters bartender
and related worker,
charworker cleaner and
related worker, cook
and related worker,
service worker, caregiver and caretaker,
housekeeping and
related service worker,
protective service
worker (NEC), hair
dresser, barber and related worker cook
waiter bartender and
related worker, caretaker building, supervisor housekeeping and
related services

A. Registered Professionals
As of the 1st Quarter of 2012, the cumulative total of
professionals registered with the PRC stood at
3,229,047.
The top 10 professions consisted the following:
TABLE 6 - Top 10 Registered Professionals at PRC:
1st Quarter 2012
Profession

Number of
Registered
Professionals

% Share

1.

Professional Teacher

1,130,785

35.0

2.

Nurse

751,019

23.3

3.

Midwife

168,417

5.2

4.

Accountancy

143,232

4.4

5.

Civil Engineer

122,757

3.8

6.

Physician

114,073

3.5

7.

Mechanical Engineer

78,296

2.4

8.

Criminologist

65,560

2.0

9.

Pharmacist

60,404

1.9

58,268

1.8

10. Medical Technologist

Source: PRC.

Professional Teacher was on top of the list accounting

for 35.0% of the total number of registered professionals, followed by Nurse with 23.3%, and Midwife with
5.2%.
Of the top ten professions, five (5) belong to the
health professional group, namely: Nurse, Midwife,
Physician, Pharmacist, and Medical Technologist. The
other two (2) belong to the Engineering group and
these are Civil Engineer and Mechanical Engineer.

Note: NEC - not elsewhere classified.

Sources: POLOs and POEA.

www.prc.gov.ph

LABOR MARKET MONITOR - FIRST QUARTER 2012

TABLE 8 - Top 10 PHIL-JobNet Registrants
by Occupation: 1st Quarter 2012

B. Applicants Registered on
PHIL-JobNet

Number of
Registrants

Occupation

On the average, 10,824 job applicants were registered

at the PHIL-JobNet during the first quarter of 2012. This
was lower by 3.1% than the average number of
registered applicants (11,166) in the same quarter in
previous year.
Majority of the registrants were Clerks (24.4%), Service
Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers (18.4%),
Professionals (16.3%) and Laborers and Unskilled Workers (15.0%) making up the 74.1% of the total registrants.
TABLE 7 - PHIL-JobNet Registered Applicants
by Major Skill: 1st Quarter 2012

1.

Production /Factory Worker

676

2.

Service Crew

538

3.

Professional Nurse

508

4.

Cashier

442

5.

Sales Clerk

375

6.

Data encoder

330

7.

Office Clerk

284

8.

Production Machine Operator

230

9.

Salesman/Saleslady

223

10. Waiter/Waitress

182

Source: DOLE-BLE PHIL-JobNet Database.

Ave. No. of
Registered
Applicants

% Share

Clerks

2,644

24.4

Service Workers and Shop and

Market Sales Workers

1,993

18.4

Professionals

1,760

16.3

Laborers & Unskilled Workers

1,627

15.0

Classified by sector, the top ten assessed and certified

Technicians & Assoc.

Professionals

1,011

9.3

workers were distributed as follows:

Trades and Related Workers

703

6.5

Plant & Machine Operators & Assemblers

569

5.3

Officials of Government & Special

Interest Organizations, Corporate Exec., Managers, Managing
Proprietors and Supervisors

485

Farmers, Forestry Workers &

Fishermen

23

0.2

Special Occupations

0.1

10,824

100.0

Major Skill/Occupational Group

TOTAL

C. TESDA Assessed and Certified

Workers
During the reference period, a total of 161,667 workers
were assessed and 136,370 workers were certified by
TESDA registering an overall assessment rate of 84.4%.

TABLE 9 - Assessed and Certified Workers by Sector:

1st Quarter 2012
Assessed

Certified

Certification
Rate

Tourism

47,612

41,797

87.8%

Health, Social & Other

Community Devt.
Services (HSCDS)

41,696

38,338

91.9%

ICT

15,332

8,467

55.2%

Automotive

14,000

11,123

79.5%

Maritime

10,908

9,896

90.7%

Metals and Engineering

8,549

7,304

85.4%

Construction

8,691

7,667

88.2%

Electronics

7,570

5,387

71.2%

Processed Food

2,254

2,119

94.0%

HVAC/R

1,356

1,041

76.8%

Sector
4.5

Source: DOLE-BLE PHIL-JobNet Database.

The top ten occupations in terms of the average number of registered applicants which accounted for 35%
of the total registrants in 1st quarter of 2012 are shown
in Table 8.

Source: TESDA.

www.phil-job.net

www.tesda.gov.ph

LABOR MARKET MONITOR - FIRST QUARTER 2012

The biggest number of workers assessed and certified

Majority or 77.0% of the graduates on all Education

belong to the Tourism sector. While the sectors that reg-

and Training Programs were beneficiaries of the short-

istered the two (2) highest certification rates were the

term course on Language Training and Culture Famili-

Processed Food sector with a certification rate of 94.0%;

arization, followed by Computer Literacy (Microsoft

and Health, Social and Development Services sector

Tulay Project), and by Seafarers Upgrading Program

with 91.9%.

(SUP) with 14.2% and 5.4%, respectively.

D. Graduates of OWWA Programs and

Services on Education and Training

E. Maritime Training Courses

As of the 1st quarter of 2012, a

beneficiaries graduated

total

under the

of

40,171

short -term

courses, college degrees and elementary/high school

programs of the OWWA, posting a 4.6% increase from
38,395 graduates in the same quarter of 2011.

Programs: 1st Quarter 2012

ratings, cadets, maritime faculties, trainers, and other

personnel in the maritime industry. Included in these
training were STCW Courses (Deck, Engine, Radio
Safety, Security & Medical Courses), Environmental
Protection & Maritime Allied Courses, Professional Development

No. of
Graduates

Short-Term Courses

ing certificates to Filipino merchant marine officers,

Communication, Passenger and Tanker Courses, and

TABLE 10 - Number of Graduates on Education & Training

Program/Service

For the 1st quarter of 2012, the NMP issued 4,800 train-

786

Seafarer's Upgrading Program (SUP)

2,184

Microsoft Tulay Project (OWWA IT

Program)

5,713

Language & Culture Familiarization

30,941

College Degrees (4 to 5 years)

547

Educational for Dev't Scholarship Program (EDSP)

OFW Dependent Scholarship (OFWDSP)

Education cum Livelihood Assistance

for children and surviving spouse/nextof-kin (NOK) of deceased OFWs

535

Congressional Migrant Workers Scholarship Program

Total Graduates

and

Faculty

Development

Courses.
TABLE 11 - Number of Training Certificates Issued by

39,624

Skills for Employment Scholarship Program (SESP)

Courses,

National Maritime Polytechnic: 1st Quarter 2012

Program/Activity

Accomplishment

1.

Conduct of Marine Training

Courses

4,800 training certificates issued

2.

Number of seafarers/trainees

2,275 seafarers
trained

Source: NMP.

F. Business Expectation Survey (BES)

for 2nd Quarter 2012
The BES is a quarterly survey of leading firms drawn
from the Securities and Exchange Commission's top
7,000 Corporations conducted nationwide since 2003.

40,171

Source: OWWA.

www.nmp.gov.ph

www.mtc.gov.ph

www.owwa.gov.ph

LABOR MARKET MONITOR - FIRST QUARTER 2012

Business outlook on the economy continues to improve in 2nd quarter of 2012. The confidence index for
2nd quarter 2012 rose to 44.5% from 40.5% in the first
quarter of 2012. This indicates that more businesses are
optimistic about the countrys economic prospects
compared to the previous year .

EDITORIAL BOARD
Dir. Criselda R. Sy - BLE
Dir. Noel Villaflor - TESDA
Dir. Nimfa De Guzman - POEA
Dir. Vivian Tornea - OWWA
Mr. Manuel Laopao - BLES

FIGURE 2 - Overall Business Confidence

Ms. Ruth R. Rodriguez - BLE

by Quarter: 2011-2012
60.0%

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Mr. Paul P. Cabatic - BLE

40.0%

47.5%
34.1%

31.8%

20.0%

38.7%

44.5%

40.5%

Ms. Rio Fe G. del Valle - BLE

CONTRIBUTORS
Mr. Edwinpole Divinagracia - ILAB

0.0%
Q1

Q2

Q3
2011

Q4

Q1

Q2
2012

Ms. Ma. Elvira Ador - OWWA

Ms. Grace Marie Ayaso - NMP
Ms. Perla D. Sayana - PRC
Mr. Everos Evangelista - POEA

Source: BSP - BES

Respondents cited the following factors for their more

optimistic outlook: (a) increase in orders and new con-

Mr. Gilbert Guerrero - MTC

Ms. Lourdes Castante - TESDA

tracts/projects leading to higher volume of production; (b) expansion of business and new product lines;
(c) increase in government spending; and (d) seasonal uptick in demand during summer and the enrollment and harvest seasons. Also contributing to business improved sentiment were the prevailing favorable macroeconomic conditions, such as lower interest rates and manageable inflation, as well as, steady
growth of overseas Filipinos remittances that contribute to a healthy external payments position. The senti-

The Labor Market Monitor is a quarterly

publication of the Bureau of Local
Employment which contains information
derived from the PHIL-JobNet and various
government agencies and offices.
For comments and/or queries, you may send
an e-mail to ble_lmcgd@yahoo.com
or call 527-2543 and 527-2539.

ment of business in the Philippines mirrored the improved business outlook globally, particularly in the US,
Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea,
and Singapore.

Technical Notes:
Averages are computed using the three
monthly figures of the reference quarter.
Details may not add up to totals due to rounding off.

www.bsp.gov.ph