Online job hiring down 3% in April

MANILA, Philippines – Online job hiring in the Philippines contracted three percent last April from a year ago, according to a report by Monster Employment Index (MEI).

The latest drop, however, was an improvement from the 24 percent decline in March 2016.

“The Philippine economy had expanded faster than analysts’ predictions in the first quarter, largely driven by jobs across the services sectors. This expansion has given rise to employee demands for various related roles,” Monster.com managing director for Southeast Asia Sanjay Modi said.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing, automotive and ancillary sector is once again the worst performing industry, posting a 56 percent decline during the period.

Hospitality and travel jobs remained the weakest as it saw a decline of 63 percent year-on-year.

On the other hand, the customer service sector registered a 33 percent increase in online hiring.

The retail sector also recorded its first positive growth since March last year with 49 percent increase year-on-year in online hiring.

“The Philippines is also likely to continue to lure more businesses, thanks to a business-friendly environment, which will continue to drive the labor market. Demands for financial analysts, BPO (business process outsourcing) and IT (information technology) professionals, web-developers and healthcare workers will be on the rise in the months ahead,” Modi said.

The MEI 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 the country.