American engineers seek jobs in Phl

CEBU, Philippines - The expected boom in the Philippine construction sector starting this year has attracted American engineers to seek employment here with even Filipino-American engineers now considering to go back home, an industry official said.

Philippine Constructors Association (PCA) executive director Lito Madrasto said that the construction sector in the country has seen strong interest from American engineers looking for positions and job opportunities here.

Madrasto said aside from the Americans, Filipino-Americans are also taking advantage of the upswing growth of construction sector, bolstered by the expected flow of budget under the public-private-partnership (PPP) thrust of the Aquino government.

Records from the National Statistics Office (NSO) backed by the Business Monitor International revealed that in 2010 alone, construction projects surged by at least 59.5 percent. The residential and non-residential structures were up by 18.1 percent to more than P47 billion.

The private construction projects were up by 9.9 percent or close to 30,000 building permits issued.

This development is seen to start off the “brain-gain” among the construction sector professionals, such as engineers and construction workers who are now working in different countries, he said.               

According to Madrasto, those who are still holding on to the “American dream” may put it aside while Asia is now taking the spotlight in terms of opportunities and fast economic growth.

“This year, a lot of pork barrel will be pumped in. We are even having problems in sourcing equipment and manpower,” Madrasto said.

Madrasto urged Filipinos to start believing this economic turnaround of the Philippines, while the world is watching the Philippines and the rest of Asia. He emphasized that there is much and growing opportunities in “our home ground.”

Real estate analyst Enrique Soriano said that the year 2013 is the “turning point” of the government to release the promised PPP budget.

In the last couple of years, the Aquino government had been in the “pathetic government infrastructure spending” state; this year, people are expecting the government to spend the allocation multi-billion peso budget for infrastructure, he said.

According to Soriano, the PPP is seen to flood the market with employment and high purchasing power for Filipinos.

“After the good job of the Aquino administration in fixing the governance for two years, the President has no excuse not to implement the promised PPP and infrastructure improvement,” Soriano said.

PCA record showed the total output in construction sector increased remarkably in 2012, posting a double-digit growth of 14.4 percent from 2011, which was more than its average annual growth in the last several years.

It is important to note that the sector surged to a high 18.4 percent during the last quarter of 2012, coming from 8.1 percent registered in the previous year.

This allowed the construction sector to contribute a total of P345 billion to the economy in 2012 from P302 billion in 2011, and increased its share to GDP from 5.1 percent to 5.5 percent.

PCA attributed this phenomenal growth to the upsurge in government spending on infrastructure and sustained growth in private construction.

According to PCA, the construction sector continues to provide a significant level of employment in the domestic economy.

Despite the loss of almost 900,000 jobs in 2012, the construction sector continues to generate 103,000 new jobs contributing a total of 2.2 million workers to the country’s labor force.

This boosted its share in total employment from 5.6 percent in 2011 to 5.9 percent in 2012. /JMD (FREEMAN)