“With the continuous glut of registered, yet, unemployed nurses, alongside with the recent developments highlighted by nurse-volunteerism in hospitals and institutions, I encourage students and workers to look at other healthcare professions if they want to get employed quickly,” Baldoz said.
Baldoz issued the statement in view of the new batch of successful examinees of the July 2011 Nursing Licensure examination to upsurge the surplus of nurse and to magnify jobs and skills mismatch cases.
Addressing the current issues affecting the nursing profession in the country, Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz advised student and workers to consider other health-related courses and opportunities to mitigate local unemployment in the health and wellness industry.
Baldoz pointed students and workers to the labor market information (LMI) available in the DOLE’s Project Jobs Fit, which details a wide range of opportunities in the country’s key employment generators, which include careers in the Health and Wellness industry.
“The Health and Wellness industry has been identified by DOLE’s Project Jobsfit as one of the 12 key employment generators (KEGs) that will provide more employment opportunities," Baldoz said, adding that the industry has the potential for absorbing the most number of Filipino workers in the next 10 years.
The labor and employment chief said that Project Jobsfit identifies other careers under the industry, such as optometry, physical therapy, pharmacy, medical technology, clinical and internal medicine, surgery, and radiology. Wellness massage (Hilot) and spa/massage therapy were also dubbed as in-demand skills. These occupations are expected to propel more employment opportunities in the industry both local and overseas up to 2020.
Baldoz, citing the DOLE’s Career Guide section, said that the identified health and wellness professions have entry level salaries ranging from P8, 000 -- P12,000 per month in the local labor market, but may go up to P20,000 or higher after years of experience. Opting for overseas, the average earning is about $6,351 per month or higher.
“These kind of careers are in-demand not only in hospitals, but also in laboratories, clinics, health maintenance organizations, public health agencies, pharmaceutical firms, research institutions, scientific equipment companies, physicians’ offices, and schools offering clinical laboratory science programs. Indeed, their licenses can bring them to greater heights and greener pastures,” Baldoz added.
The career guide also recognizes wage employment for Massage Therapists in spa; salons; offices of physicians and chiropractors; fitness and recreational sports centers; and hotels. Massage therapy’s growing acceptance among medical practitioners will greatly increase employment opportunities as well.
“Massage therapists who have completed formal training programs and have passed the licensure exam are likely to have very good job opportunities,” Baldoz said.
Bringing the right labor market information ‘at hand’ to all labor force entrants, Baldoz advices students to check the summary information of all health-related courses in the career guide section posted at the Bureau of Local Employment website at http://www.ble.gov.ph.
The career guide contains a series of occupational ‘briefs’ or summary information about hard-to-fill and highly in-demand occupations to aid students planning their university courses and workers who would like to shift careers.
“By educating students, workers, with the current labor market information, we are giving them the right signals to direct them towards careers with high employability,” Baldoz said as she stressed that deciding on a career is not a mere trial and error thing and taking popular course nowadays has been the common path of least resistance, which leads to the perennial problem of jobs and skills mismatch.
Feedback or question about this release? Please call Bureau of Local Employment at 528-0087. |
