US payrolls surge, bolster Fed rate hike prospects

WASHINGTON - US employment gains surged in February, the clearest sign yet of labor market strength that could further ease fears the economy was heading into recession and allow the Federal Reserve to gradually raise interest rates this year.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 242,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate held at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent even as more people piled into the labor market.

"This is the best news the Fed could have expected going into the meeting. With jobs bouncing back, you can be sure that rate hikes are just around the corner," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

The economy added 30,000 more jobs in December and January than previously reported. The only blemish in the report was a three-cent drop in average hourly earnings, but that was mostly because of a calendar quirk.

The average length of the workweek also fell last month.

Economists had forecast employment increasing by 190,000 last month and the jobless rate holding steady.

The employment report added to data such as consumer and business spending in suggesting the economy had regained momentum after growth slowed to a 1.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter. Growth estimates for the first quarter are around a 2.5 percent rate.

Fears of a recession in the wake of poor economic reports in December and slowing growth in China sparked a global stock market rout at the start of the year, causing financial market conditions to tighten.

Financial markets have priced out bets of a rate rise at the Fed's March 15-16 policy meeting and see a roughly 50 percent chance of a hike at the September and November meetings, according to CME FedWatch.

Economists, however, believe the strong jobs market and improved growth outlook, together with signs that inflation is creeping up, could prompt the Fed to lift borrowing costs in June.

The Fed raised its key overnight interest rate in December for the first time in nearly a decade.

Prices of U.S. Treasuries fell after the data, while U.S. stock index futures rose. The U.S. dollar gained against the euro and hit session highs against the yen and Swiss franc.

Slower wage growth
Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said the economy needs to create just under 100,000 jobs a month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.

The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, increased two-tenths of a percentage point to 62.9 percent, the highest level in just over a year.

Adding to the report's strength, a broad measure of joblessness that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 9.7 percent.

The employment-to-population ratio also increased to 59.8 percent last month, the highest since April 2009, from 59.6 percent in January.

While wage growth weakened in February, it was largely payback for January's jump, which was driven by a calendar quirk. Growth in wages is seen accelerating as the labor market settles into full employment.

The drop in average hourly earnings lowered the year-on-year gain in earnings to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent in January. The average workweek fell to 34.4 hours from 34.6 hours in January.

In February, job gains were almost broad-based, though manufacturing and mining employment fell. The services sector created 245,000 jobs after adding 153,000 jobs in January. Mining lost a further 18,000 jobs after shedding 9,000 positions in January.

Mining payrolls have declined by 171,000 jobs since peaking in September 2014, with three-fourths of the losses in support activities. More losses are likely after oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. said last month it would cut a further 5,000 jobs because of a prolonged slump in oil prices.

Manufacturing employment lost 16,000 jobs, reversing some of January's surprise increase. Private education jobs rebounded after plunging in January. Construction payrolls increased 19,000 and government added 12,000 jobs.

source: interaksyon.com

Standard Chartered axes 15,000 jobs, announces $5.1B capital raise

Hong Kong, China - Asia-focused British bank Standard Chartered said Tuesday it would axe 15,000 jobs and raise $5.1 billion in capital after posting a "disappointing" third-quarter loss as it struggles to return to growth.

The job losses are part of a major restructuring that will cost around $3 billion, the bank said.

A Standard Chartered spokeswoman said she could not give any further details of the job cuts.

More than half of the restructuring costs would come from potential losses on liquidating assets and businesses, the bank said in a statement.

The remaining charges would be from "potential redundancy costs" of a planned headcount reduction of 15,000, as well as goodwill write-downs, it added.

The bank reported an unexpected pre-tax quarterly loss of $139 million compared with a $1.53 billion profit a year earlier, in a performance described as "disappointing" by group chief executive Bill Winters.

Revenue was down 18.4 percent to $3.68 billion and impairment losses increased from $536 million to $1.23 billion for the quarter.

Shares in the bank plunged as much as 6.2 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the wake of the results – its stock value has fallen 32 percent in the past year.

"I know a lot of people losing their jobs is not good, (but) from a business point of view, that's what they have to do," Hong Kong-based financial analyst Jackson Wong told AFP.

Wong said loan losses were the main reason the bank swung to a pre-tax loss, adding that it needed to "control costs and try to remodel (its) business".

source: interaksyon.com

oDesk-Elance rebrands as Upwork

MANILA, Philippines — The online platform oDesk, which has provided an avenue for home-based freelancers to contract work, has now rebranded into Upwork a year after merging with its competitor Elance.

“Upwork is a new name, and also a new platform for connecting businesses with talented professionals, faster and more easily than ever before,” Stephane Kasriel, Upwork CEO, said in a post on the company’s official blog.

According to company data released last year, there are about a million Filipino users using the oDesk-Elance platform, with total earnings of P3.3 billion in 2013 generated by Filipino freelancers.

Kasriel said they will focus on four areas of innovation with the new branding, namely faster hiring, better collaboration, larger teams, and professional growth.

The new platform carries similar oDesk functionality with a more simplified and mobile-friendly platform, and a new app for Android and iPhone.

“With an exciting and limitless future in mind, we choose Upwork to better convey our vision and represent our current and future community,” Kasriel said. “It’s a name that inspires us and we hope it will inspire you as well.”

The merger of Elance and oDesk, which was announced December 2013 was finalized April 2014. Together, the two entities have 9.3 million freelancers all over the world.

The Department of Science and Technology — ICT Office is also amplifying the budding popularity of home-based freelancing through the Internet by promoting it as a career option through its rural impact sourcing campaign in the provinces.

source: interaksyon.com

Lesson from 6 years of global economic crisis? Keynes was right

Now that the Federal Reserve has brought its program of quantitative easing to a successful conclusion, while the French and German governments have ended their shadow-boxing over European budget “rules,” macroeconomic policy all over the world is entering a period of unusual stability and predictability. Rightly or wrongly, the main advanced economies have reached a settled view on their economic policy choices and are very unlikely to change these in the year or two ahead, whether they succeed or fail. It therefore seems appropriate to consider what we can learn from all the policy experiments conducted around the world since the 2008 crisis.

The main lesson is that government decisions on taxes and public spending have turned out to be more important as drivers of economic activity than the monetary experiments with zero interest rates and quantitative easing that have dominated media and market attention. Fiscal decisions on budget deficits, taxes, and public spending have mostly been debated as if they were largely political choices, with much less influence than monetary policy on macroeconomic outcomes such as inflation, growth, and employment. Yet the reality has turned out to be the opposite. While every major economy in the world has followed essentially the same monetary policy since 2008, their fiscal policies have been very different and the divergence in outcomes, especially when we compare the United States and Europe, has been exactly the opposite to what was implied by the rhetoric of most politicians and central banks.

Countries that took emergency measures to reduce public borrowing have mostly suffered weaker growth, as in the case of Britain from 2010 to 2012, Japan this year, and the United States after the 2013 “sequester” and fiscal cliff deal. In more extreme cases, such as Italy and Spain, fiscal tightening has plunged them back into deep recession and aggravated financial crises. Meanwhile countries that ignored their deficit problems, as in the United States for most of the post-crisis period, or where governments decided to downplay their fiscal tightening plans, as in Britain this year or Japan in 2013, have generally done better, both in terms of economics and finance. The one major exception has been Germany, where budgetary consolidation has managed to coexist with decent growth, largely because of a boom in machinery exports to Russia and China that is now over, pushing Germany back into the recession its stringent fiscal policy suggested all along.

Thus the six years since 2008 have provided strong empirical support for the supposedly outmoded Keynesian view that government borrowing is more powerful than monetary policy in stimulating severely depressed economies and pulling them out of recession. In a sense, it is odd that the power of fiscal policy has come as a surprise – or that it continues to be categorically denied by the German government and the US Tea Party. The underlying reason why fiscal policy is so important in recessions, and has now come to dominate over monetary policy, is a matter of simple arithmetic that should not be open to debate.

Recessions generally occur when private business and households decide to spend less than their incomes in order to reduce their debts or increase their savings. If this process of “deleveraging” is happening in the private sector, which it clearly has been, then simple arithmetic shows that economic balance can only be restored if some other sector of the economy spends more than its income – and such excess spending is only possible if that “other sector” is willing to increase its debts. Disregarding the role of exports and imports, which must sum to zero for the world as a whole, the government is the only possible candidate to play the crucial balancing role as the “other sector.” It is therefore a mathematical certainty that governments must increase their borrowing whenever businesses and households decide to boost their savings by spending less than they earn.

Despite this indisputable arithmetic, there has been surprisingly little interest in the macroeconomic impact of budgetary policies in contrast to the endless debates about every twist and turn of monetary policy. The explanation lies in the monetarist theories that came to dominate standard economic models of the pre-crisis period – and the related institutional changes that elevated central bankers above finance ministers as the supreme arbiters of economic policy.

Monetarism overturned the Keynesian fiscal consensus that prevailed from the 1930s to the 1970s, by introducing one simple assumption into the models that guided governments and central banks. The case for Keynesian fiscal stimulus in deep recessions was simply assumed away by asserting that interest rates could always be reduced sufficiently to stimulate private investment, discourage private savings and so restore growth. As a result, the private sector as a whole would never suffer for long from a shortfall in spending. Therefore government borrowing would never be needed to balance inadequate private demand.

As a result of these assumptions, interest rate decisions by central banks came to be seen as the only effective tool of macroeconomic management, while fiscal policy was relegated to a microeconomic supporting role. Tax structures and public spending levels were seen as supply-side issues influencing incentives and resource allocation, but the demand impact of government borrowing was largely ignored. Whether government borrowing expanded or contracted, interest rates would rise or fall to offset the Keynesian demand effects. Independent central bankers would manage macroeconomic demand with monetary policy, leaving governments to set taxes and spending plans to achieve political or supply-side objectives.

In the era of high inflation when monetarism was introduced, the idea that interest rates could always be cut by enough to revive private economic activity was reasonable enough. After all, when inflation is running at 5 percent, an interest rate of 1 percent is equivalent to minus 4 percent in real terms, imposing a massive tax on savers and offering a big subsidy to private investors. But this argument fails completely when inflation falls to negligible levels or disappears completely, as in the euro-zone and Japan.

Ironically, therefore, the very success of monetarism and central banking in conquering inflation now means that the era of monetary dominance is over. Keynesian fiscal thinking has triumphed and finance ministers are again more important than central bankers, even though most of them have not yet noticed. Once interest rates fell to zero, traditional monetary management lost its ability to provide further stimulus. And now that central banks are providing “forward guidance” which commits them to very low interest rates for years ahead, monetary policy has also lost its ability to offset fiscal easing and restrain demand.

As monetary policy has lost traction, fiscal policy has automatically gained power. With interest rates at or near zero, private demand cannot be simulated with further rate cuts and this means that monetary easing can no longer offset fiscal tightening. As a result, any reduction in budget deficits becomes unambiguously deflationary, which is why the French and Italian governments were right to resist enforcement of the German-inspired fiscal compact in the euro-zone. Conversely, fiscal expansion now provides an unqualified economic stimulus because there is no risk of interest rates rising significantly in the next year or two – and perhaps not until the end of the decade. In short, the world has returned to a period of fiscal dominance, as in the 1950s and 1960s.

source: interaksyon.com

S&P 500 ends at record as jobs report eases Fed worries

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, lifting the S&P 500 to a fresh closing high, after a weaker-than-expected jobs report was taken as a sign that the Federal Reserve will not begin raising interest rates anytime soon.

Stocks had traded lower after the government reported fewer U.S. jobs were created in August than expected.

By early afternoon, however, major indexes turned positive, led by utilities. Fed officials have made it clear that they see the labor market as still struggling, which partially justifies keeping rates at rock-bottom levels.

"The nonfarm payroll numbers fell well short of expectations, but the market reaction suggests a stronger-than-consensus number might have been met with a downward bias in equities," said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Cincinnati.

"What we saw today called off the dogs to some degree and took the heat down a notch or two from investors' concern about rate hikes."

Utilities gained 1.2 percent as investors turned to the group for their income appeal with bond yields falling in response to the payrolls data. Utility shares often benefit as bond yields fall because the companies pay relatively rich dividends.

Power generator NRG Energy Inc rose 1.9 percent to $30.89, and XCEL Energy Inc advanced 1.9 percent to $32.48.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 67.78 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,137.36. The S&P 500 was up 10.06 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,007.71. The Nasdaq Composite added 20.61 points, or 0.45 percent, to 4,582.90.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P each gained 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.06 percent.

Family Dollar Stores Inc shares lost 1.2 percent to $79.11 after the discount retailer rejected Dollar General Corp's sweetened takeover bid. Shares of Dollar General fell 2.3 percent to $63.01.

Apple shares edged up 0.9 percent to $98.97 after the company said it planned to add new security features to its iCloud service.

Retailers lost ground. Michael Kors shares lost 4.5 percent to $76.39 after the company announced a secondary offering of 11.6 million shares.

Gap Inc shares fell 4.2 percent to $44.65 after worse-than-expected same-store-sales in August.

About 5.2 billion shares traded on all U.S. platforms, according to BATS exchange data, compared with the five-day average of 5.1 billion.

source: interaksyon.com

U.S. recoups jobs lost in recession as economy picks up

WASHINGTON - U.S. employment returned to its pre-recession peak in May with a solid pace of hiring that offered confirmation the economy has snapped back from a winter slump.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 217,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, in line with market expectations. Data for March and April was revised to show 6,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.

"This was a very solid report with no obvious warts to detract from the underlying message of sustained improvement in economic activity," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

May marked a fourth straight month of job gains above 200,000, a stretch last witnessed in January 2000, even though it also was a slowdown from the 282,000 jobs created in April, when hiring was still bouncing back from a winter lull.

The nation finally recouped the 8.7 million jobs lost during the recession, with 8.8 million more people working now than at the trough in February 2010. But the working age population has since increased 10.6 million while 12.8 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force.

The upbeat jobs report hoisted U.S. stocks to record highs. U.S. Treasury debt prices slipped, while the dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies.

Economy gaining traction 

The pace of hiring adds to data from automobile sales to services and factory sector activity that have suggested the economy will grow at a pace of more than 3.0 percent this quarter after shrinking at a 1.0 percent rate in the first three months of the year.

Other data on Friday showed consumer credit in April recorded its largest advance since November 2001, a sign households were feeling more secure in taking on debt.

Last month, the unemployment rate held steady at a 5-1/2 year low of 6.3 percent as some Americans who had given up the search for work resumed the hunt.

A measure of underemployment fell to its lowest level since October 2008. The gauge, which includes people who want a job but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs, fell to 12.2 percent.

Economists expect more previously discouraged workers to re-enter the labor force over the course of the year. While that would be a sign of confidence in the labor market, it could slow the decline in the jobless rate.

The long-term unemployed accounted for 34.6 percent of the 9.8 million jobless Americans, down from 35.3 percent in April. The median duration of unemployment fell to 14.6 weeks, the shortest stretch in five years and a sharp drop from April.

"We are making progress, but we still have a very long way to go," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The return of discouraged job seekers and drop in long-term unemployment will be welcomed by the Federal Reserve, which has cited low labor force participation as one of the reasons for maintaining an extraordinarily easy monetary policy.

The workforce, which had declined sharply in April, increased by 192,000 people last month. That left the labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, at 62.8 percent.

Average hourly earnings, which are being closely watched for signs of wage pressures that could signal dwindling slack in the labor market, rose five cents, or 0.2 percent. On a year-over-year basis, earnings were up a tepid 2.1 percent, suggesting little build-up in wage inflation.

But earnings in some sectors, such as mining and information services, are rising at a much faster clip.

"It's a difficult time for Fed policymakers," said Peter Molloy, president at Edison Investment Research in New York. He said the central bank normally would be raising interest rates by now given the level of the jobless rate but wanted to go slowly because the recovery has been weak by historic norms.

The Fed has kept benchmark overnight rates pegged near zero since late 2008 and is not expected to begin nudging them up until well into next year.

Employment gains in May were broad-based.

Manufacturing payrolls increased by 10,000, expanding for the 10th straight month. Further increases are expected as auto sales outpace inventories.

Construction payrolls rose by 6,000. It was the fifth consecutive month of gains, but the pace is slowing as the housing sector struggles to regain momentum.

There were sturdy job gains in leisure and hospitality, and professional and businesses services. Healthcare added 33,600 workers, likely boosted by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Government payrolls increased 1,000, a fourth straight monthly increase. Retail employment also rose.

The length of the workweek held steady at 34.5 hours, with a measure of total work effort rising by 0.2 percent.

source: interaksyon.com

Saudi issues new regulations on HSWs

MANILA, Philippines -- Saudi Arabia has issued regulations listing the rights and obligations of migrant household service workers and their employers, the Department of Labor and Employment said Thursday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Saudi Arabia approved last week Resolution No. 301, or the Household Regulation on Service Workers and Similar Categories.

“I am very much pleased that Saudi Arabia has issued its new regulations on the employment of foreign HSWs,” Baldoz said.

The resolution is an offshoot of an agreement between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia on a standard employment contract for household workers.

The new regulations, said Baldoz, “will certainly boost the protection for our HSWs and enhance their welfare.”

Under the new regulation, HSWs have the following obligations:

render the work agreed upon and do her best in the performance of her work
follow orders of the employer and family members relating to the performance of her work
take care of the employer’s property
not harm the family members, children, and the elderly
keep secrets of the employers, family members, and people living in or visiting the employer’s house
not refuse work or leave the service without legitimate reason
not affect the dignity of the employer and family members and not interfere in their affairs
respect the Islamic religion and observe Saudi regulations applied in Saudi Arabia, and the customs and traditions of the Saudi society
not engage in any activity disadvantageous to the (employer’s) family
On the other hand, employers should:

not impose work on the household service worker unless the work has been agreed upon, and provided the work does not substantially differ from the original work
not impose any dangerous work that threatens the health and safety and the human dignity of the HSW
pay the agreed salary at the end of every month
pay wage and benefits in cash or check to be documented in writing if the HSW does not want the wage or benefit deposited in a bank account
provide appropriate accommodation to the HSW
provide HSW opportunity to enjoy a daily rest of at least nine hours a day
personally attend or send a representative to answer complaint, if any, of the HSW
not ‘rent out’ the HSW
HSWs are also entitled to a weekly rest day, one month’s leave after two years of service, paid sick leave of not more than 30 days, health care according to the rules and regulations of Saudi Arabia, and end-of-service benefits equivalent to one-month salary after four years.

According to Baldoz, the regulations, if violated also carry stiff penalties for both employers and HSWs.

Employers shall be fined 2,000 Saudi riyals and prevented from recruiting HSWs, while HSWs shall be fined 2,000 Saudi riyals and prevented from working in the Kingdom.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration offices were already instructed to disseminate the information about the new regulations to all HSWs applicants, in coordination with all licensed recruitment agencies.

Baldoz also directed the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to include in the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) for HSWs information about the new regulations.

source: interaksyon.com

BPO industry hikes revenue, jobs targets

MANILA - The country's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry increased its revenue target for this year, citing greater interest in the Philippines as an outsourcing destination.

On the sidelines of the International Outsourcing Summit, Jose Mari P. Mercado, who is president of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), told reporters that the group hiked its 2013 revenue goal to $16 billion from the earlier forecast of $15.7 billion. The revised target is 21 percent higher than the $13.2 billion earned last year.



Mercado said employment will hit 960,000, higher than the earlier forecast of 925,000. The new jobs target is 23 percent more than last year's 777,000.

He cited strong partnerships among the private sector, the government and academe as among the drivers of industry growth.

Despite the upward adjustment in its 2013 revenue and employment projections, IBPAP is keeping its 2016 targets of $25 billion in revenues and 1.3 million jobs.

IBPAP chairman Danilo Sebastian Reyes told a press conference that the Philippines continues to attract BPO investments because the country can serve a wide range of requirements of different companies across different geographies, ranging from voice, call center services to non-voice, back office operations.

Citing a recent trip to the US, Reyes said, "There are pinpointed requests for the Philippines not only for contact centers but also high-value back office services."

"We've been quite successful at making the Philippines not only a call center but also a full-service IT-BPM provider," Reyes said.

"A lot of companies are now saying 'I want to outsource' and particularly 'I want to outsource in the Philippines,'" said Asheesh Mehra, head for Asia Pacific, Japan and the Middle East of Infosys.

Citing the efficiency of outsourcing work here, Mehra said the company has increased to 97 percent the share of locals in its Philippine workforce from 70 percent previously.

Mercado said new markets such as Japan are looking at Filipino animators and software developers.

A delegation of Philippine software developers that visited Tokyo last April was welcomed by a record 150 Japanese firms that showed interest in outsourcing work.

"One of the challenges for Japan is it's running out of people. We in the Philippines have these [human] resources," Mercado said.

source: interaksyon.com

Singapore tightens rules on hiring of foreign professionals

SINGAPORE - Singapore Monday announced tighter rules on the hiring of foreign professional workers, saying companies will from next year have to show proof they first tried to recruit local citizens.

The change, taking effect in August 2014, follows protests and online complaints about the large number of foreigners in the affluent city-state.

The Ministry of Manpower said companies that discriminate against citizens "will be subject to additional scrutiny" when they apply for employment passes for foreign professionals.

"Even as we remain open to foreign manpower to complement our local workforce, all firms must make an effort to consider Singaporeans fairly," Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin said in a statement.

"What we are doing is to put in place measures to nudge employers to give Singaporeans -- especially our professionals, managers and executives -- a fair chance at both job and development opportunities."

About 37 percent of Singapore's total workforce of 3.36 million in 2012 were non-resident.

Some 150,000 Filipino workers are based in Singapore.

The ministry said companies must first advertise for Singaporeans to fill job vacancies in a national jobs bank administered by the government's workforce development agency.

Foreigners can be hired if no citizens are qualified.

Firms which have a "disproportionately low concentration" of Singaporean employees at professional level, and companies where foreign managers are accused of favoring their own compatriots in hiring, will also be put under tighter scrutiny, the ministry said.

Firms with 25 or fewer staff, or those recruiting for jobs paying Sg$12,000 ($9,580) and above a month, will be exempted from the advertising rule.

Authorities have been phasing in measures to tighten foreign worker inflows after facing criticism from Singaporeans, who accuse foreigners of competing with them for jobs, housing, schools and space on public transport.

Singaporeans have also complained that the rapid influx in previous years is eroding their national identity.

The discontent spilled into general elections in 2011 when the ruling party garnered its lowest-ever vote count after more than 50 years in power.

Two rallies against the government's immigration policy were held earlier this year garnering crowds of more than 3,000, making them the country's biggest protests in decades.

source: interaksyon.com

IT-BPO industry drawing more 'balikbayans' to work in PH

MANILA - As the Philippine economy expands, more Filipinos are returning to the country and finding employment in the growing information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, executives of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said.

With a relatively higher pay, IT-BPO jobs have become appealing not only to Filipinos who do not want to leave the country but also those who have returned amid rosier opportunities here, Joey Gurango, president of IBPAP member-organization Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), told reporters last week.

Gurango’s software firm, for instance, now employs four Filipinos who had previously worked in Australia and Singapore. Gurango left the country in the 1970s to work in the US and landed jobs in top IT companies such as Apple and Microsoft, but returned to the Philippines to help jumpstart local software startups.

“All we have to do is educate Filipinos in developing countries what is there for them to come back,” Gurango said, noting a wide array of opportunities being offered by the fast-rising IT-BPO sector.

IBPAP president Jose Mari P. Mercado said every IT-BPO firm in the country has at least one employee who previously worked abroad but has come back and gained employment in the industry, which has been growing leaps and bounds.

IBPAP senior executive director Gillian Joyce G. Virata said the Philippines is next only to India in providing IT-BPO services, with about a tenth of the global pie being supported here.

As for voice services, which comprises two-thirds of the domestic industry, the Philippines is number one, with a 38-percent share of the global market, Virata said, citing the latest global market size report of research firm Everest Group. She said the country could easily account for two-fifths of the voice sector by 2016.

IBPAP’s roadmap projects industry revenues to hit $25 billion and employment to reach 1.3 million by 2016.

To attain the roadmap’s targets, making IT-BPO services available throughout the country is a key strategy, Mercado said.

At present, 72 percent of IT-BPO operations in the country are based in Metro Manila, but the industry is working to expand the share of provinces to 40 percent by 2016, in line with the commitment made by the Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) to President Benigno Aquino III.

“Our value proposition is ‘you need not go out of the country to get a job,’ and will extend it to ‘you need not go out of your own city or province,” Mercado said.

Virata noted that three-fifths of college graduates come from outside Metro Manila, and many of them can be trained to work in the IT-BPO sector.

Mercado said the right matching of skills coupled with local government units’ (LGU) commitment to put in place IT infrastructure would result in increased competitiveness and attractiveness of sites outside Metro Manila for investors.

In line with the public-private “Next Wave Cities” initiative, IBPAP is embarking on a 10-city road show that will cover the cities of Antipolo, Baguio, Butuan. Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Laoag, Naga, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban and Tarlac, in a bid to promote ICT in these localities.

Fast-growing IT-BPO hubs such as Bacolod, Cebu and Davao show that more employment can be generated and firms can flourish even outside Metro Manila, Mercado said.

To showcase what the Philippine IT-BPO industry can offer, IBPAP is hosting the 5th International Outsourcing Summit (IOS) with the theme “Unlocking Possibilities, Creating New Vistas” on October 6-8 at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

source: interaksyon.com

Convergys opens new recruitment center in Cebu

MANILA – Convergys has opened a new recruitment center in Cebu, as the country’s largest private employer is set to hire at least 1,000 employees for operations in that city this year.

In a statement, Convergys said its new recruitment center is located at the ground floor of The Link building, which is at the entrance of the Cebu IT Park on the corner of Salinas Drive and Jose Maria del Mar Drive.

The Link is also home to the company’s fifth operating site in Cebu and Convergys’ 21st in the country.

Early this month, Convergys launched operations in its 22nd site in Davao, marking the call center company’s first venture into Mindanao.

Transferred from another site, the new Convergys Cebu Recruitment Center features more space, a new look and an enhanced overall experience for job applicants.

“What sets Convergys apart from all the other companies I worked for is the speed of change. You need to be agile, quick to learn while keeping steady with the right processes. A person with a high learning ability who is process-oriented, has a high EQ and can inspire others to achieve more is likely to grow in the company,” said Cebu-based Butch Sison, Convergys vice president for operations.

On its 10th year of operations in the Philippines, Convergys has been named twice as the country’s ICT-BPO company of the year and thrice as the employer of the year.

The company’s clients are in the financial services, technology, cable, telecommunications, satellite, automotive, retail, and healthcare industries.

source: interaksyon.com

Fast-food workers begin strikes across US over wages

NEW YORK - Fast-food workers staged strikes at McDonald's and Burger Kings and demonstrated at other stores in sixty US cities on Thursday in their latest action in a nearly year-long campaign to raise wages in the service sector.

The strikes spread quickly across the country and have shut down restaurants in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Raleigh and Seattle, according to organizers.

The fast-food workers were expected to be joined by retail staff from stores owned by Macy's Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc.

The fast-food workers want to form unions in the virtually union-free sector without employer retaliation and bargain for higher wages.

They are demanding pay of $15 an hour, up from $7.25, which is the current federal minimum wage.

Martin Rafanan, a community organizer in St. Louis, said local employees of McDonald's and Wendy's can't make it on the salaries.

"If you're paying $7.35 an hour and employing someone for 20, 25 hours a week, which is the average here, they're bringing home about $10,000 a year. You can't survive on that," Rafanan said. Missouri's minimum wage is $7.35 an hour.

"Unless we can figure out how to make highly profitable companies pay a fair wage to their workers, we're just going to watch them pull all the blood, sweat, tears and money out of our communities."

McDonald's profits totaled $5.47 billion in 2012.

Momentum building

Momentum has been building in recent months, organizers say, as they receive financial and technical support from the Service Employees International Union, community activists, politicians and the clergy.

Last November, some 200 workers walked off their fast-food jobs in New York City. Groups in Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit and other cities followed their lead in April and July.

The $200 billion US fast-food sector as well as retail sales and food preparation have been under the spotlight because they have added most of the jobs, in many cases lower-paying and part time, since the recession.

Restaurant chains and trade groups say the protests are unwarranted because fast-food and retail outlets provide Americans with millions of good jobs with competitive pay and ample opportunities to rise through the ranks.

"Our history is full of examples of individuals who worked their first job with McDonald's and went on to successful careers both within and outside of McDonald's," McDonald's said in a statement.

Wendy's and Burger King did not respond to requests for comment.

The restaurant chains have not changed their wage policies as a result of recent strikes.

The National Retail Federation said in a statement the strikes are "further proof that the labor movement (has) abdicated their role in an honest and rational discussion about the American workforce."

And in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the conservative Employment Policies Institute ran a full-page ad with a picture of a robot making pancakes, warning that higher wages would mean "fewer entry-level jobs and more automated alternatives."

"You can either raise prices and lose customers, or (automate) those jobs," said Michael Saltsman, EPI's research director, adding that "the idea that restaurants are rolling in the money is not representative of the situation franchisees face."

The median wage for front-line fast-food workers is $8.94 per hour, according to an analysis of government data by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), an advocacy group for lower-wage workers.

"The workers are responding to total failure on behalf of the federal government to raise the minimum wage to keep up with inflation and the cost of living," said Tsedeye Gebreselassie, an attorney at the NELP, referring to the strikes.

The walkouts, coming before the US Labor Day holiday on Monday, also took place in the Southern states of Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University who has published work on labor organizing and inequality, said the significance of protests in the South is "a huge, huge deal."

"The South has always been the model for low wage employment, from slavery to the Jim Crow laws, to the present. It's also the most anti-union part of the country, so the fact that workers feel empowered enough to take collective action is enormous," Warren said.

source: interaksyon.com

Tech giant hiring fresh-grad Software Engineers from Southeast Asia

MANILA, Philippines — Technology giant Google is looking for software engineers to join its team in Mountain View, California, but instead of looking for talents in the United States, the company has specifically sent out a job posting for interested applicants in Southeast Asia.

In the job posting uploaded on the Google website, the search behemoth said it is looking for potential software engineers to join its team but they must have graduated from any university in Southeast Asia. ()

Interested applicants need not have extensive background in software development or programming, as the posting said Google only requires a minimum of one year relevant software development experience, aside from excellent coding skills.

Google said the candidate will be a member of a “small and versatile team” that will test, deploy, and maintain the company’s software systems. It did not specify, however, which particular product category the candidate will be working on.

“Google is and always will be an engineering company. We hire people with a broad set of technical skills who are ready to tackle some of technology’s greatest challenges and make an impact on millions, if not billions, of users,” the posting said.

The job opening comes at the height of the immigration reform debate in the US, where technology companies — which source talent and expertise from a broad range of countries around the world — have been caught in the middle.

Other qualifications for the post are as follows:

BA/BS in Computer Science (In lieu of degree, 4 years relevant work experience).
1 year relevant work experience, including experience with UNIX/Linux or Windows environments, distributed systems, machine learning, information retrieval and TCP/IP.
Excellent coding skill in C, C++, Java or Python.

Preferred qualifications:
MS or PhD degree in Computer Science or related technical discipline.
Experience in network programming and/or developing or designing large software systems.

Filipino software developers are recognized to be one of the best in the world. In 2012 alone, the local software development industry — which churns out products for local use and those outsourced by multinational companies — posted a total annual revenue of $1.16 billion.

Google maintains several offices in Southeast Asia, including in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and most recently, the Philippines. Many Filipinos expressed intent to join Google’s local workforce for a number of functions, but the search giant has yet to announce any expansion plans for its local team.

source: interaksyon.com

Yahoo! fuels fresh debate on telecommuting

WASHINGTON — Telecommuting, a growing trend in the US workplace, is coming under fresh scrutiny following news that Yahoo! is curbing the practice.

The trend of working from home has been gaining steam for decades, as part of a workplace evolution which allows greater family-work balance and saves energy and commuting costs.

An internal Yahoo! memo from chief executive Marissa Meyer posted this week by the Wall Street Journal said employees will be required to come to their offices to “feel the energy and buzz” of the workplace.

“Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together,” according to the report.

Asked about the memo, a Yahoo! spokesman said Tuesday, “We don’t discuss internal matters,” but essentially confirmed the news by saying: “This isn’t a broad industry view on working from home — this is about what is right for Yahoo!, right now.”

The shift counters the overall trend: some 53 percent of US employers offered flexible work options in 2012, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. That compares with 48 percent in 2007.

A 2011 report by the US Labor Department found 24 percent of employed Americans reporting that they work at least some hours at home each week.

The trend is particularly noticeable in IT firms, where companies take advantage of technology to have virtual access to what they would have at the office.

Cisco Systems, which develops virtual private networks for remote access, said 40 percent of its employees are not in the same city as their manager, and the average employee telecommutes two days a week.

IBM, another strong telework advocate, said 29 percent of its 128,000 employees participate in a flex-work or work at home program, and that in 2011, in the US alone, this saved 6.4 million gallons of fuel and avoided more than 50,000 metric tons of carbon emissions.

The move by Yahoo! “goes against the grain of where a lot of organizations are going today,” said Cindy Auten, general manager of Mobile Work Exchange, a public-private partnership that promotes telework.

“This is especially important in the tech industry; they are focused on recruiting and retaining the best and brightest.”

Auten said telework is “a huge recruitment and retention tool,” seen as a near necessity at some firms now, with the option offered in 85 percent of the employers rated as “best places to work.”

She said telecommuting often improves productivity, but that in cases where it fails, “it may uncover other weaknesses” in an organization.

The Yahoo! decision drew criticism from others, including Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, who said in a tweet: “Perplexed by Yahoo! stopping remote working. Give people the freedom of where to work & they will excel.”

Kelly Ann Collins, a Washington marketing consultant who blogs on work and family issues, called the Yahoo! move confusing.

“High-tech companies like Yahoo! that are completely digital have the ability to make the lives of their employees so much better,” she wrote.

“Telecommuting is not only efficient, it is better for team morale and employee retention. It makes for happier employees that (actually like to) produce top-notch work.”

But some analysts say Yahoo!’s move could be positive, even if it drives away those seeking a more flexible environment.

“Yahoo! is in a creative innovation race and they need to get back to their roots,” said John Challenger, chief executive of the consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

“There are great benefits to telecommuting, and there are more companies that need to do more telecommuting, but (Yahoo!) is a case where they are seeking to pull themselves out from a position where they have been behind the curve.”

Even before the Yahoo! news, some data suggested telecommuting was not the panacea it was cracked up to be.

The Labor Department report found that telecommuters often ended up working more hours than if they had come into the office, effectively doing overtime work without compensation.

“The ability of employees to work at home may actually allow employers to raise expectations for work availability during evenings and weekends and foster longer workdays and workweeks,” the report said.

But Challenger said Yahoo! will not be able to turn back the clock completely, and that some employees are likely to do some of their work from home, despite the new policy,

“Some people have always worked from home,” he said. “And now technology allows them to work on the weekends, at night or on vacation. There is no boundary between work and home anymore.”

source: interaksyon.com

Workers Expect Higher Pay, Job Growth in 2013

The unemployment rate may still be sitting at elevated levels, but workers are optimistic about their paychecks and employment opportunities in the new year.

According to a new survey conducted by human resources services firm Randstad, more than half of respondents (57%) expect to get a raise in the New Year--a 10% increase from last year. What’s more, 59% of employees think the job market will improve in 2013.

“The outlook for next year certainly looks brighter for most employees,” says Jim Link, managing director of human resources for Randstad US in a press release. “Today we see employees are very positive about their future prospects and are hopeful to regain any economic momentum lost.”

The labor market improved slightly in 2012, but uncertainty brought on by the election and economic growth forced many employers to hold back on increasingly payroll, training and development and expanding.

“Optimism is indeed becoming prevalent,” says Link in an interview. However, all of that hope and optimism could evaporate if politicians aren’t able to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff before Jan. 1. Without a deal, experts warn the economy could fall into a recession which will impact job growth and employment.

Survey respondents were also more upbeat about their positions within their current companies with 47% expecting their employer to more people, an increase of 7% from last year. Thirty percent think they will get a promotion in 2013, up from 6% in last year’s survey.

Despite almost half of respondents reporting that the weak economy has negatively impacted their careers, only 15% are worried they could lose their jobs and 78% think the companies they work for have a good future.

When it comes to employee benefits and compensation, optimism is also improving heading into the new year. According to the survey, 16% worry they will experience a pay cut, down 8% from last year, while 41% think companies will scale back on benefits in 2013, 6% lower than 2012.

Although 47% plan to explore their job options next year, more than two-thirds (68%) say their companies made an effort to keep them engaged while 62% expect to continue their careers with their current employers. While employees are going into the New Year happy and loyal, that doesn’t mean the sentiment will hold steady if employers fail to offer fair compensation, job growth and development, promotional opportunities and a flexible work schedule, says Link, noting companies have to stay focused and committed to keeping workers engaged.  “As optimism increases, employee engagement will be increasingly important for companies’ retention efforts. This is why it is so valuable for employers to analyze and understand what motivates their most important asset--talent.”

source: foxbusiness.com

Filipino nurses warned vs e-mail scam on non-existent Canada jobs

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs is warning the public against a scam circulating by e-mail that offers Filipino nurses non-existent jobs in Toronto-based hospitals.

Citing a report from the Philippine consulate general in Canada, the DFA said the e-mail offers work with Shouldice and other hospitals in Toronto. It invites nurses to “coaching interviews” conducted by staff of these hospitals in Makati to prepare them for interviews by the Canadian embassy in Manila.

Participants are made to pay a fee of P3,888 for the “coaching interview,” which is a prelude to a two-day seminar at the completion of the initial consultation, the consulate said.

According to Shouldice Hospital, it has been represented illegitimately and falsely by an “unidentified” agency in the Philippines in conducting interviews of nurses, who have been sent e-mails supposedly from Shouldice Hospital.

In the past few days, Shouldice Hospital has been receiving at least 100 e-mails and telephone inquiries about these “coaching interviews” for potential employment in its hospital in Thornhill, Ontario.

These would-be participants are asked to send money via Western Union, specifically to somebody using Shouldice Hospital’s officers, including its chief executive officer.

The consulate general thus “advises recipients to be wary of such invitations, especially those that demand money from potential applicants.”

source: interaksyon.com

Workers beg Romney to stop latest Bain outsourcing

FREEPORT - Being told to train his replacement was humiliating and surreal, but Tom Gaulrapp said the worst part was when the plant's US flag was taken down before the Chinese engineers arrived.

Gaulrapp decided it was time to take a stand against outsourcing and the man he blames for the loss of his job: Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney, who founded the private equity firm that owns the Freeport, Illinois auto parts plant.

Romney's ties to Bain Capital have burdened the Republican nominee's hopes of winning the November 6 election as Democrats unfavorably paint him as a corporate raider who pioneered the outsourcing of US jobs to countries with lower labor costs.

Romney denies the charge, but his claim to be a man who could revive the economy and boost the prospects of American workers rings hollow here.

Gaulrapp thinks it would only take a phone call from the candidate who's vowed to create 12 million jobs in the United States to save the 170 jobs at Sensata Technologies that are about to leave this already economically depressed town of 26,000.

"What we'd like is a miracle," Gaulrapp, who has worked at the plant for 33 years, said with a sigh that acknowledged how unlikely it is that his wish will be granted.

"We'd like Mitt Romney to come to Freeport, see what this is doing to this community, and contact his friends that run Bain Capital and say 'this is absolutely the wrong thing to do' and save our jobs."

The Romney campaign declined to comment on the situation at Sensata, but a spokeswoman contacted by AFP noted that the former Massachusetts governor retired from Bain in 1999 and his investments there are controlled by a blind trust, effectively nullifying his links to the firm.

Romney's campaign recently set up a website -- business.mittromney.com -- defending his record at Bain and the "thousands" of jobs he saved or created by "fixing companies that were broken and giving new companies a shot at success."

'A Taste of the Romney Economy'

But the situation in Freeport is a classic example of how what's best for a company is not always what's best for American workers, said Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp, who is no relation to Tom.

"You can't keep sending your jobs offshore and still have a middle class," said the mayor.

Plant worker Pam Lampros, 53, is worried she's going to lose her home so investors like Romney can make a bigger profit.

"It just hurts after so many years of hard work and dedication," said Lampros, a 34-year veteran at the non-unionized plant who had hoped to retire from there.

"It's for corporate greed, more or less."

Sensata, which is majority-owned by Bain Capital, purchased the automotive sensors unit from Honeywell for $140 million in cash in January 2011.

With annual revenues of $130 million and valuable patents, the unit was a good buy. But with 75 percent of the revenue generated in Asia, it made sense to ship production to Sensata's facilities in China, the Netherlands-based company said.

"It's better to be closer to one's customers," Sensata spokesman Jacob Sayer told AFP, citing transportation and other logistical advantages.

Sayer acknowledged that the decision to shift production to China is "an unfortunately event" for Freeport and said he understands why it could be "difficult" for the workers to train their replacements.

He has no idea why -- or if -- the US flag was removed before the Chinese engineers and technicians arrived.

"We didn't request it. I can tell you that," Sayer said, adding that the company has been leasing the facility from Honeywell and has no involvement in grounds maintenance.

The workers have had nearly two years to prepare for the plant closure. Some have found new jobs and those who remained were given retention bonuses to help keep operations going until the last pieces of equipment are shipped elsewhere.

They got riled up in June when Romney visited nearby Janesville, Wisconsin and talked about how jobs were his top priority -- at the same time they were being told to train their Chinese replacements.

After months of pursuing Romney's campaign with protests and petitions, the Sensata workers set up camp in the fairgrounds across the road from the plant on September 12 in hopes of drawing more attention to their cause.

In a nod to both the "Hoovervilles" of unemployed workers that sprung up during the Great Depression and the Occupy Wall Street movement, about a dozen people have since been sleeping in tents staked into the cold, hard ground.

Mark Schreck, 36, a registered Republican, even brought his children a couple of times.

"This isn't a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, this is an American issue," he said, noting it is the second time his job has been outsourced to China, despite both operations being profitable -- just not profitable enough.

"We're in trouble. I'm not that old and when I grew up American industry and technology was huge. My folks and my uncles all worked in good jobs and retired from them," Schreck said as he sat by a smoking campfire on the windy fairgrounds.

"It's hard to grasp how bleak it is out there. I've been looking for work since last January and I'm not finding any."

source: interaksyon.com

PWDs Wanted In Online Jobs

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Several agencies in this province working hand-in-hand in sourcing out employment and livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities (PWD) announced recently that there are promising careers for the physically-challenged in home-based online jobs.

Speaking at the “Employers and PESO (Provincial Employment and Services Office) Managers Disability Forum” at Salinas Restaurant in Lingayen last July 26, Pangasinan PESO Chief Alex Ferrer said foreign employers engaged in the online business have opened doors to PWDs.

Ferrer said that Virtual Assistant Training Center (VATC) Chief Operating Officer Marivic Sison-Verceles expressed willingness to conduct workshops for PWDs to train them on various online jobs such as content writers, researchers, encoding and others.

Meanwhile, Katipunan ng may Kapansanan sa Pilipinas, Inc. (KAMPI) President Josephine de Vera told private companies that they are entitled for tax privileges and other incentives in return for employing PWDs.

In another development in Rizal province, National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) Executive Director Carmen Zubiaga said her office has been disseminating information to PWD organizations nationwide to inform the disabled about their rights to participate in the coming elections.

PWDs qualified to vote in next year’s polls are being enjoined to avail of the special registration to be given by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in their respective localities on August 11.

source: mb.com.ph