Palace welcomes report on top global offshoring locations

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang welcomed yesterday a report that showed the Philippines was among the top three global offshoring locations for corporations, followed by India and China.

The report, released last week by the global real estate adviser Jones Lang LaSalle, said the ranking was based on the number of jobs created in shared service centers, call centers and technical support centers from 2008 to 2011.

“I think that only reaffirms the standing of our country when it comes to the business process outsourcing industry. And, like what the President has been saying before, when it comes to encouraging investors, our first promise is (to) level the playing field,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio dzRB.

“And secondly, we are encouraging those in the industry to hone their skills further to maintain our status when it comes to this particular industry,” Valte said.

The Palace official said companies involved in offshoring require a different level of proficiency on competency and proficiency in the use of the English language, and thus the need to continue training the people.

“I think it’s not really the proficiency but it’s more of the accent that becomes necessary... If your account is in Australia... your accent should be near towards that. So it’s not really the overall proficiency but it’s more of the accent,” she said.

Valte said the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have been focusing on “improving and building our proficiency in both languages.”

She said this was not just for the business process outsourcing industry “but generally, of course, our students need that – and not only in English but also in Filipino.”

Reports showed the Philippines attracted 115 projects from 2008 to 2011, generating more than 72,000 jobs, while India bagged 105 projects with 64,370 jobs, and China 56 projects with 25,455 jobs.

The JLL report titled “Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore: Still Unsure?” identified the other top locations and the number of jobs created as: United Kingdom (22,304), United States (18,594), Brazil (13,964), Poland (13,476), Mexico (11,515), Romania (11,438), and Costa Rica (8,878).

The JLL study said the changing global economic landscape was affecting corporate strategy and location decision-making.

“The threat of recession, political uncertainty, and rise of global emerging nations are causing international corporations to re-assess their location strategy. Companies are increasingly selecting from three ‘shoring’ options: onshore, offshore and near-shore,” it said.