Philippines: Hiring falls by more than 50%, fierce competition for jobs

In the Philippines, the number of applicants per job offer has increased about eightfold to 400 and part-time jobs are on the rise. 

Philip Gioca, country manager of JobStreet.com Philippines, said the number of job offers on its portal fell from 100,000 pre-COVID to 40,000 during the pandemic. Also, as the number of staff in offices cannot exceed 40%, most of these job offers were for work-from-home arrangements. 

The number of people applying for one position increased from 50 pre-pandemic to 400 replying to the same advertisement due to COVID-19, said Manila Bulletin.  

In addition, employers have cut salaries by 30%-50%, according to the August 2020 Job Report based on the compensation of those currently employed. “They could not afford to just continue paying the same amount,” Gioca said, given the limitation for mobility, operating capacity and supply and demand constraints. Employees have had to accept the pay cuts or face unemployment. Most employers have promised to reinstate employee’s salaries once their businesses pick up.  

READ: Philippines: Third-quarter GDP shrinks by 11.5%

Consequently, employees have found themselves needing to supplement their income by doing part-time and freelance work, with some based on hourly rates. Such work offers have been widespread among hirers during the pandemic. 

Even stable government jobs that were previously shunned during normal times have been sought after. In one week alone, there were 90,000 applications for these.