High-value jobs crucial for office property growth

For the Philippines to scale up its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, it needs to produce more high value jobs than the traditional voice call center agent positions, according to international real estate services firm Jones Land Lasalle (JLL).

Ramish Nair, the chief operation officer of JLL India, said during the Asia CEO Forum held in Makati on Thursday that creation of high-value jobs is crucial to the growth of office property sector.

He also cited opportunities in the Philippines when it comes to producing more high-level technical jobs in the outsourcing sector.

The outsourcing industry in India and Philippines has been similarly growing, a kind of growth that also translates to more growth in both of the country’s office sector and in general, in their real estate sector too.

The information technology-BPO (IT-BPO) industry has been a driver of economic growth and job creation in the Philippines over the last 10 years, growing at an average of 24 percent annually, and its share of the global onshore services market went from five percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2013.

But the problem is, India has generated more highly technical jobs in the industry than the Philippines over the years.

“In India, the shift [to higher value services] happened around 2003. In the Philippines, it is just beginning to happen now, more on more now are needed for KPOs [Knowledge Process Outsourcing], R&Ds [research and development], outsourcing jobs that are more on technical aspects,” Nair said in an interview with reporters.

“This is an opportunity for countries like India and Philippines,” he added.

Sheila Lobien, JLL national director and head of project leasing markets, agreed to this, adding that the sector will also grow if the country will be able to produce skilled workers geared for highly technical jobs in the BPO sector.

“We want to see more workers in the IT software development,” Lobien said.

Based on World Development Report 2016, providing a larger volume of high-value and non-voice services could promote the country’s BPO sustainability as the global market for complex services expands exponentially.

“Progress in digital technologies and international competition increases the need to move to more high-value added, non- routine jobs,” an earlier report cited.

“In the Philippine IT-BPO industry, 85 percent of the revenues are generated in jobs intensive in routine cognitive tasks, with workers increasingly susceptible to automation,” it added.