Cebu’s Construction Boom Faces Worker Shortage

With the booming construction industry, Cebu is now facing the lack of skilled construction workers.

Cebu Contractors Association said that while the lack of skilled construction workers has been there for a long time, the problem is now even bigger with the resumption of several projects following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Philconstruct Visayas 2023 chairman Kevin Lim said that most of the contractors are even looking for skilled workers from neighboring provinces since the number of workers available in Cebu is not enough.

“It is really hard to find people within the city who are willing to work in the construction industry,” Lim said.

Some of the provinces they source out workers from include Negros, Leyte and even in Surigao.

He cited as an example his own company Zumyrphil Construction: they have 10 cranes but can only use 5 units since they only have 5 crane operators available.

Francis Gerard Cañedo, Cebu Contractors Association President, also agreed that they have been suffering from the lack of skilled construction workers. He said that most prefer to work in other jobs like in the tourism or the BPO sector because of the notion that being a construction worker will get you nowhere.

“Poaching of workers is also very rampant,” Cañedo added. “Sometimes you see the workers here already working in another building next month.”

Cañedo of Frasec Ventures said that most skilled workers are also being exported to other countries which offer much higher wages than the local jobs here.

Aside from the lack of workers, the construction industry in Cebu is also suffering from the high fuel costs, said Lim.

“Fuel prices are higher right now and it affects almost everything,” he explained.

But Lim believed that “times are getting a little better compared to the previous two years” because of the resumption of projects that have been withheld during the pandemic.

Cañedo said that in order to cope with the lack of workers, they are now trying to “upskill” or multi-skill their workforce through trainings.

“It is a very challenging time but contractors are optimistic that we may be able to recover,” he added.

They are also looking into hiring more women in the construction industry who could handle welding, painting and even masonry.