Majority of new jobs opened in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry around the globe last February were in the Philippines, an industry expert said yesterday.

“There were 25,700 new job openings for the sector in the month of February alone. Of these jobs, 72% were in the Philippines,” said Jon E. Kaplan, president of TeleDevelopment Services, Inc., a consultancy, recruitment, and training outfit for call center agents and supervisors.

Mr. Kaplan told reporters at the sidelines of a TeleDevelopment call center and BPO training event that the new jobs created by the sector were all for voice services.

The number was culled from the industry’s top 40 firms, which generated 100 to 3,000 jobs. An example is Stream Global Services.

Mr. Kaplan noted that some of the new call center jobs were created as a result of expansion activities of many companies.

“It could be that a company built a new 2,000-seater facility. It could also be that the company merged and is expanding which can be a bit misleading. This is the case with Stream Global, which acquired e-Telecare and is expanding its business and facilities so it opens more seats,” said Mr. Kaplan.

Smaller companies in the Philippines are also expanding, he added. Read more...

By E. N. J. David (www.bworldonline.com)