Philippine cement industry may need 400,000 more workers by 2030

It is expected that an additional 400,000 jobs will be created for Filipinos at local firms by 2030, according to forecasts by the Cement Manufacturers’ Association of the Philippines (CeMAP).

Cirilo Pestano, CeMAP executive director, said that local manufacturers will need to add workforce to meet the expected increase in nationwide cement demand, as a result of the growing economy and government infrastructure programme.

Between 4,500 and 6,500 jobs will be created to meet the demand for for each million tons of additional production capacity needed.

Current cement manufacturers are already eyeing 17 million tons of added production, which will translate into more than 110,000 jobs.

However, this figure does not account for production by new players, said Pestano.

Over the last half-decade, the volume of cement imports into the country has rocketed by almost 300% per annum.

If the government introduces measures to encourage the development of more local production to replace these imports, it will also add hundreds of thousands of new jobs as well.