By Jenina P. Ibañez, Reporter
ONLINE job search website Jobstreet.com saw a decline in merchandising, retail, and mechanical engineering job postings amid the lockdown declared to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Jobstreet Country Manager Philip Gioca told BusinessWorld in an email on Friday that the website saw a sharp 73% drop in jobs available in merchandising since the lockdown was announced. Available jobs in sales or retail fell by 68%, while jobs in mechanical engineering dropped 65%.
The International Labor Organization projects a 6.7% loss in total job hours globally, or the equivalent of 195 million full-time workers, in the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
The National Economic and Development Authority said that 116,000 to 1.8 million Philippine jobs could be lost.
Demand for digital and healthcare jobs however remain strong.
“There’s a strong move to the digital workforce. We can see today that jobs that can be done remotely or online remain strong in demand. Customer service has retained the top 1 spot in the no. of roles still available at 6,000+ openings as of April 15,” Mr. Gioca said.
He said demand for healthcare professionals took the second spot with 4000 jobs, as well as education in English as a Second Language home-based roles (4000 jobs), and information technology/computer roles specializing in software (3000 jobs).
“On the candidate side, the movement is on part-time and home-based jobs,” Mr. Gioca said, adding that the company has an online campaign promoting these jobs.
“Candidates should improve their skills during this ECQ through online tutorials and must stay home to avoid the virus because once the market re-opens there will be a surge in demand again for immediate hiring.”
Mr. Gioca said customer service, education, and administrative roles remain the top specializations accepting fresh graduates.
However, he said Jobstreet had observed a rise in the demand for healthcare workers with no required work experience, with an average salary offer of P23,000 a month for an entry-level position.
“As the country is currently struggling with the dwindling healthcare workforce, companies are seeing the importance of this sector now more than ever,” Mr. Gioca said.
