Jobs and Employment

When the sh*t hit the fan during this current financial crisis, it was said that the first industry to get devastated is the most recently activated industry in the Philippines- the trade on Business Outsourcing. True enough, a significant number of call centers in the country resorted to letting go a huge number of their work force, most of them the low level agents.

However it may be noticed that for the major business outsourcing companies in the country, the more devastating effects have been kept at bay. Ever since the initial wave of lay offs, the ripples of the crisis that followed seem to have decreased dramatically- no more mass lay offs occurred. The major companies are still open for hiring, as a matter of fact. Other branches of these companies have gone on with the construction, springing right up and promising more jobs to Filipinos in various parts of the country.

What justifies this inconsistency? It’s actually a very basic logic- the stability of the company’s clients. If the business outsourcing company functions for a particularly stable and fairly huge company in the US, the effects of the recession are cushioned extensively, to the point that the jobs of even their lowest level agents are protected.

This means that call center agents could still enjoy the benefits of having a job if they work for any of the major companies, their jobs are safe… for now.