According to CICT commissioner Damian Mapa, this shortfall of workers will increase every year until 2010 unless drastic changes are undertaken to improve acceptance rates among companies and sustain interest levels both among college graduates and existing workers.
'Right now the call centers are still growing at a very fast rate. However, by 2010 the growth will be limited already by the number of graduates,' Mapa said in an interview with Computerworld Philippines.
'Whereas the back-office processing will overtake call centers by 2009 or by 2010. And all the way up to 2015 and beyond we will see that the growth will be on back-office processing,' Mapa added.
The projected shortfall is based on the increasing demand for 'cyberservices' jobs compared with the 'supply of graduates, low acceptance rate among applicants, and their interest levels,' according to a report submitted by the CICT in last month's National Manpower Summit held at the Manila Hotel.
Cyberservices jobs include customer contact, animation, software development, medical transcription, and back-office processing.
Some 500 representatives from nine sectors considered as 'key employment generators,' among them cyberservices, attended the summit organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Speaking during the summit, DOLE secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas noted there is really no job shortage in the country. 'What we have are jobs looking for people to fill them up, and people who are not qualified for the available jobs.'
Low absorption
Mapa said the government has already laid out plans to solve the impending shortage, and with the right results, the cyberservices industry's total employment capacity is expected to grow from 163,000 workers employed last year to 1.083 million by 2010.
Consequently, the CICT commissioner said the goal is to go from US$2.1 billion in revenues to $12.8 billion within the same four-year period.
Although figures show that the number of tertiary graduates related to cyberservices will grow from 302,914 in 2006 to 350,527 in 2010, it will still be insufficient to meet the projected influx of new jobs (62,750 in 2006 to 288,000 in 2010) due to factors like low interest levels and acceptance (or absorption) rates among professionals and applicants.
Under customer contact services, for instance, the report indicated that growth is expected to continue with labor demand peaking at 85,000 yearly. However, actual demand will peak closer to 185,000 in 2010 due to a large percentage (20 percent) of workers exiting the segment each year.
The workers' exit is based on a 42 percent to 60 percent interest level, which refers to a person's liking or dedication for a job.
One of the alarming details about the supply-side capacity of software development, engineering, finance and accounting, and Information Technology Operation (ITO) analysts is the low absorption rate of graduates either with related degrees or non-related degrees.
For software development, there is only 15 percent to 20 percent absorption rate among ICT-related degree graduates of 45,000 and above, and only 5 percent to 10 percent absorption rate among graduates of 60,000 and above from other degrees.
And although the country is projected to produce 42,000 to 48,000 graduates with ICT-related degrees from 2006 to 2010, only about 2,000 graduates will likely be hired yearly as software developers, having a steady absorption rating of 5 percent in the next five years and only a measly 1 percent rating from those with other degrees.
The same absorption rate goes with the supply chain for engineering, wherein only 5 percent of 55,000 to 60,000 engineering graduates would be hired annually in the same four-year period. The figure is lower with graduates from other degrees, as only 0.5 percent of every 128,000 to 148,000 would be hired for engineer-related jobs.
On finance and accounting positions, a steady score of only 10 percent absorption rate is given to graduates with related degrees. The number of total graduates with related degrees stands at 128,000 to almost 200,000 in the next five years. Only 1 percent absorption rating was given to graduates with other degrees.
However, the segment that scored a higher percentage absorption rating was human resources, pegged at 25 percent out of the estimated 16,000 to 18,000 graduates with HR-related degrees that will be produced from 2006 to 2010.
Industry concerns
The CICT report revealed several concerns affecting segments in the cyberservices industry, mostly issues related to content, faculty, facility, regulatory problems and others such as brain drain, poaching, and the need for additional qualifications of workers.
For software development, there is a lack of content that covers the entire life cycle of work. For example, it is focused on coding instead of on software engineering, thus necessitating internal training costs of 6 to 12 weeks.
Teachers in schools are reportedly not updated on the latest development theories and techniques or may lack industry exposure and soft skills. Poaching from abroad, especially for experienced and skilled-level professionals, was also noted as a problem.
However, there is good news for medical transcription (MT). The CICT reported no major issues in terms of faculty and facility among schools although there were a few issues raised related to content and regulatory concerns. The industry needs to set standards, while the registration of MT schools with TESDA, especially those in the provinces, is being encouraged.
For back-office processing, there is a need for additional qualifications among candidates and these are fluency in speaking foreign languages and the acquisition of licenses by engineering and architecture graduates.
In order to meet the increasing demand of cyberservices jobs in the country, Mapa offered three recommendations: career advocacy, change of curriculum, and increased use of English in Philippine society.
Under career advocacy, Mapa said there is a need to inform people about the prospects of the industry, creating an impression that cyberservices is more than just call center work.
Mapa also suggested that Filipinos should be encouraged to speak more English. CICT recommends English to be taught during all four years in college and that one-third of all English lessons should be conversational English. 'We should not be shy in using our proficiency in speaking English,' he said.