January to May period: BPO employment growth up 19%

CEBU, Philippines — The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in Cebu has registered a 19% hiring growth from January to May this year, according to Cebu jobs site Mynimo.com.

The BPO sector, one of Cebu's major employment generators, is among the top industries that posted significant hiring.

Aside from BPO, hiring industries also include maritime, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, medical, media and administration.

Company vacancies were mostly noted in industries of sales and marketing, accounting, administration, engineering and IT (information technology) said, Mynimo president Wesley Chiongbian.

He said most of the companies that are hiring are located in Cebu City, the provincial capital and where most regional headquarters of big companies are located.

From January to May, the provincial business hub saw a 20% growth in hiring from companies.

Cebu City is followed by Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Talisay City and Consolacion.

For whole of Cebu, company hiring growth was at 16% during the period.

In an earlier interview with Cebu IT BPM Organization (CIB.O) managing director Wilfredo Sa-a Jr., he said automation and artificial intelligence (AI) had tempered the employment growth in Cebu BPO sector.

He said the BPO industry has already matured, growing not as fast as it used to before.

"The direction of the industry now is towards the non-voice sector," Sa-a had said.

As of end 2018, the Cebu BPO sector posted an employment of around 160,000.

While the industry was eyeing this to grow between 180,000 and 200,000 this year, Sa-a employment growth might be tempered by the rise of AI and automation.

The growth in the sector was slowing as companies look increasingly towards AI as part of their operations.

BPO companies have been working to help call center agents upgrade their skills to higher value industries such as healthcare information management, software development and data analytics.

Contact center agents have been urged to take a more proactive approach to self-improvement, education and skills development so they acquire up-to-date and industry-standard skills to keep them competitive in the jobs market. (FREEMAN)