MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Despite the widespread impact that COVID-19 has had on people and economies around the world, e-recruitment in the Philippines managed to maintain its momentum, charting double-digit year-on-year growth throughout the first quarter of 2020.
After a strong surge of 14% and 15% year-on-year for January and February, respectively, online hiring sentiment grew by 10% in the month of March.
“Although online hiring growth in the Philippines is steady for now, challenges may arise in the near future as the impact of COVID-19 begins to hit closer to home. These are some truly unprecedented times, and it’s more important than ever for employers – particularly in hard-hit industries such as travel and retail – to do what they can to support their employees through this storm,” said Krish Seshadri, CEO of Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.
He added, “Now is the time for employers to take a step back and think about how they can build agility and resilience in their teams, and ensure that their employees have the right skill- sets and support to navigate the changes that will be brought on by this adversity.”
The Monster Employment Index (MEI) is a gauge of online job posting activity compiled monthly by Monster.com. It records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in local recruitment activity.
The BPO/ITES industry continued to lead the way, with double-digit annual growth throughout the quarter, charting 23%, 28% and 25% year-on-year surges for January, February and March. Hiring demand for the industry also increased by 5% on a three-month period and 16% on a six- month period in March.
The IT, Telecom/ISP industry followed closely behind with 22%, 24% and 23% year-on-year growth during the quarter, as did the BFSI industry, with 24%, 26% and 20% growth for January, February and March.
On the flip side, the Hospitality and Retail sectors witnessed declining demand throughout Q1 2020, falling as low as -8% and -5% for the month of March, as the impact of COVID-19 hit these industries in particular.
In terms of specific occupations, Software, Hardware, Telecom professionals witnessed significant demand growth for the quarter, and particularly in March, when they witnessed the most notable annual growth among all 10 job roles monitored by the index. The job role saw an increase in demand in the short-term as well, up by 14% over a three-month period and 24% over a six-month period in March.
Purchase/Logistics/Supply Chain talent witnessed the steepest year-on-year decline among job-roles of -5% and -7% for January and February, respectively, and down by a staggering – 19% for the month of March 2020.
The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.
