Employment rate in Region 11 down to 96.5% in Oct. 2022 Gov’t urged to reduce maritime hiring fees

The government must explore ways to reduce fees paid by foreign shipping firms when hiring Filipino seafarers to avoid a decline in employment numbers, a stakeholder said on Friday.

Hiring Filipino seafarers has become more expensive, said WMOC President and CEO Rachelle Lopez said, who also organized the recent Expo Maritime Philippines 2023.

She said aside from Filipinos, foreign shipping lines are now looking at other nationalities as crew members since hiring Filipino seafarers has become a bigger investment for companies due to high expenses.

Expenses include fees, permits and tests that need to be paid, she said, adding that the potential employment decline is based on her observations and that there is no data available yet.

“To tell you honestly, sobrang nagkakaroon na tayo ng decrease of numbers in employing seafarers. There are some principals na inaayawan ng mga Filipino seafarers kasi namamahalan sila,” Lopez said.

(We are having a de- crease in numbers employing seafarers. There are some principals who are avoiding Filipino seafarers since its more expensive)

Theemployment rate in Davao Region stood at 96.5% in October 2022, according to a report released by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA)Davao Region on Thursday.

Region in Muslim Mindanao posted the highest increase from 94.4% in July to 97.5% in October 2022.

“Kailangan lang talaga natin tutukan, kailangan natin tingnan ano pa ba yung pwedeng tanggaling mga fees doon para maging marketable ulit ang mga Filipino seafarers,” she said.

(We need to focus on looking at reducing the fees)

For example, a crew change of 21 to 22 people in Manila would cost shipping companies about a million pesos, but firms pay a smaller amount in other countries like Singapore, Lopez said.

Lopez said the government should also support the maritime sector by collaborating in the reduction of fees, improving training, and procuring additional vessels for training.

The European Commission is set to release its order to recognize or not the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping of the Philippines.

If it finds the local standards unfavorable, the jobs of about 50,000 Filipino seafarers on European vessels

Based on the October 2022 Preliminary Employment Situation in Davao Region, the agency said the employment rate for this period was lower by 0.6 percentage point from 97.1% reported in July 2022, indicating that around 33,000 Dabawenyos became unemployed.

The region’s employment rate was higher compared with the national employment rate estimated at 95.5%.

Among all regions in the country, the Zamboanga Peninsula posted the highest employment rate at 98% while the Bangsamoro Autonomous

The unemployment rate in Davao Region worsened from 2.9% in July 2022 to 3.5% in October 2022, it said.

The agency said 2.31 million workers were accounted for in the region during this period, with a Labor Force Participation Rate of 62.1%.

In terms of underem- ployment, the PSA-Davao reported that at least 7.8% of the total workers in the region were reported to be underemployed in October 2022.

“Underemployed persons or employed persons who: expressed their desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work,” it said.

(Antonio L. Colina IV/ MindaNews)