FOR tourism establishments in the country, college undergraduates and those that have completed their high school education make up the most of entry-level job applicants, a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics found.
The survey, released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, was conducted in 2011 and 2012. It consisted of 4,815 establishments with at least 20 workers engaged in tourism and other related industries. About 70 percent of these were in the hotel and restaurant business.
According to the study, 60 percent of the entry-level vacancies were for young workers, 58 percent for those between 15 and 24 years old and 24 percent for those aged 25 to 30 years old. About a third of these vacancies required college experience while 30.9 percent require secondary education. As for those with a college degree,
28.2 percent of the vacancies sought these candidates.
During the survey period, accommodation and food service activities made up 73.4 percent of the entry-level vacancies in the industry. A little over half of the establishments had entry-level jobs available, 55.9 percent of these, however, were
non-regular positions.
Majority of the entry-level positions did not have gender preferences in their applicants. However, depending on the nature of the work, some gender preferences were reported, with 62.9 percent preferring male applicants and 31.1 percent stating
preference for females.
Hard to fill posts
Of the vacancies reported during the survey period, 86.8 percent were considered easy to fill positions while the hard to fill positions were at 13.2 percent. Among the hard to fill positions include medical technologists for health and wellness establishments; waiters, waitresses and bartenders; service crew; bet bookmakers and croupiers; pharmacists and production and operations managers in restaurants and hotels. The primary reasons for the difficulty in filling these vacancies are that there are few applicants or the applicants lack the competencies required for the job.
Other reasons include the expectation of high salaries and the lack of experience.
Work experience was the top consideration for hiring applicants. Other factors that employers looked for were location of residence, college degree and character references.
Over 50 percent of those employed in these establishments were paid monthly while 28.9 percent were paid daily. Some eight percent got paid on an hourly basis. Only a small portion (5.5 percent) of the workers were under part-time employment while 2.9 percent only received commissions.
Among the 4,815 establishments surveyed, 46.6 percent engaged in subcontracting.
Around 44,000 workers were hired through agencies, mostly for security and janitorial services. Only 5.8 percent outsourced their jobs and services outside the premises of their establishments.
Majority of the establishments (85.2 percent) based their entry-level salaries in the minimum wage set by the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards while 31.1 percent had their standard pay scales. A fifth (19.5 percent) based their starting salary in the employee’s qualifications.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 05, 2014.
