Online job posts in 2021 offered an average salary increase of 22.9 percent, but others had to reduce salary rates by 17.5 percent on the average, a survey by online job portal JobStreet revealed.
According to JobStreet’s 2021 Salary Report, the higher salary increase offer accounted for 50 percent of job posts in their portal, indicative that the economy is on the recovery mode. The job posts though with reduced salaries only accounted for 35.9 percent of total job offers. The rest of offers maintained their pay rate.
The said report compared salary data from JobStreet’s pool of employers between the first and third quarter of 2021 vs. 2020 of the same period, and was conducted in six countries in Asia, including the Philippines.
“Job market in the Philippines recorded an overall salary growth, with the manufacturing and sales/marketing specialization leading the way with highest year-on-year salary growth,” said the report.
Computer/IT is the highest earning industry and specialization. The Mining industry experienced large salary declines. At-risk specializations such as engineering and accounting/finance also experienced large salary decreases.
Half of the industries operating in the National Capital Region suffered salary declines, with Travel & Tourism and Apparel & Textiles being the most affected of all. With overall salaries trending upwards and certain roles stagnant, companies can leverage this foresight to plan for and acquire talent before the market full recovers, the report said.
Specifically, education (67%), public service (64%), social services (52%), electrical/electronics (50%), computer/IT (48%) are among the top industries that showed pay increases, followed by marketing/advertising (48%), telecommunications (48%),hHealthcare (48%), construction & building (47%), and communication service (46%).
JobStreet observed that public sectors are in need of quality employees, with job offers on the rise. With the new ways of working, Computer/IT and Telecommunications industries are also thriving and are offering higher compensation for their candidates. The same trend was also seen in Digital Marketing under Marketing & Advertising.
In terms of job specialization, the 2021 Salary Report showed that jobseekers specializing in education/training (65%), computer/IT (50%), administration and human resources (54%), healthcare (57%), and manufacturing (49%) are now offered with higher salaries due to the need for quality candidates who are digitally savvy, could keep the company operations going, and are experts in medical fields amidst the pandemic.
Mobility restrictions in the country have had adverse effects on several industries’ salary offers. For instance, oil & gas, hospitality, consumer goods, and retail industries experienced pay cuts. Likewise, the banking and real estate industries offered lower salaries, potentially caused by the overall economic condition of the country.
While the Call Center/IT-Enabled Services/BPO industry brings in the most jobs in the market with bigger offers, some companies could not avoid the impact of the pandemic with 41 percent of their job ads posted with lower rates than 2020.
Moreover, applicants specializing in accounting/finance (39%), sales/marketing (38%), and engineering (36%) took a hit in their paychecks due to businesses in survival mode.
Specializations requiring face-to-face interaction also saw a decline in salary offers such as hotel/restaurant (35%), construction (36%), services (37%), and manufacturing (35%).
Interestingly, general work type of jobs such as housekeeper, driver, dispatch, messenger emerged as the “most searched job” in 2021. This was followed by food/beverage/restaurant service; hotel management/tourism services; sales; architecture; personal care/beauty/fitness service; healthcare; clerical; and engineering.
“The report aimed to provide candidates with information and insights to manage their salary expectations and to help improve their career planning, while also assisting employers in making strategic hiring offers and decisions,” shared JobStreet Philippines Country Manager Philip Gioca.
“The pandemic has had a huge impact in the labor market in the past couple of years. This also made the competition for quality talents steep among hirers, causing employers to make adjustments to their offerings, policies, and work environment,” Gioca added.
JobStreet 2021Salary Report has also seen the impact of COVID-19 cases in the NCR on the job offers by companies in Metro Manila. 20 out of 43 industries in NCR experienced major pay cuts in position level, median salaryduring Q1 to Q3 of 2021. Despite this, 16 industries in the region including Public Service; Science and Technology; Legal; Beauty, Health & Fitness; Human Resources among others had pay increases in the same period.
“The rising COVID-19 cases in NCR are relatively higher than in the rest of the country, which resulted in stricter protocols, causing companies to make adjustments in their offers. On the other hand, other industries in the region were able to thrive and have posed significant increases in their salary offer,” explained Gioca.
Meanwhile, growth in salary is also seen in provinces with rising economic activity and those in proximity to NCR. Among the top provinces are Angeles City, Iloilo City, Calamba City, Bulacan, and Cavite. Salary increases were also observed in Palawan, General Santos City, Batangas, Cebu City, and Baguio City.
With the recent salary movements, JobStreet advised jobseekers to not feel discouraged in pursuing their career and look into other benefits, health conditions, aside from salary.
“Salary is just one factor when it comes to career planning. We recommend candidates to ask their potential employers about other items like benefits and company culture. It also pays to explore new skills relevant in specializations and/or industries with stable or rising pay,” shared JobStreet Senior Sales Manager Ryan Tordesillas.
The job portal also underscores the opportunity for employers to leverage this foresight to plan for and acquire talent before competition increases as the job market fully recovers. As salaries become more competitive, companies are advised to understand all the forces that influence jobseekers’ motivation beyond salaries in order to get the talent edge over competitors. (Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat)
JobStreet recorded more than 105 million job searches in 2021 and over 75,000 job vacancies offered through the platform daily at any given time. The job offer was 27 percent higher than the 2020 daily job posts of 59,000.
“You will see that jobs are increasing, market is reopening,” said Gioca.
In addition, the top specializations hired last year in the platform were Call Center/IT-Enabled Services/BPO, Education, IT/Computer – Software, Finance, and Administrative Support, among others.
With over half of the population fully vaccinated, JobStreet is here to guide employers and job seekers through insights on salary benchmarks towards job market recovery this 2022.
JobStreet.com is a leading online job board presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. JobStreet.com currently services over 230,000 corporate hirers and over 15 million jobseekers in its database.