One doesn’t need a college degree to work on board cruise ships, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which said that around 47,000 overseas jobs will be available in the transportation industry this year.
Citing a study from the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said jobs vacancies will come from the new luxury cruise ships expected to set sail in the coming months.
“The trend towards luxury travel is also sustained, which means jobs for cruise ships for Filipinos will continue to grow…15 new cruise ships are scheduled to come into service in 2014 with 47,000 new sea jobs to be created,” Baldoz said
. Baldoz said these jobs will include entertainers and other service-oriented positions like waiters, massage therapists, hair stylist, and deck assistants.
The applicants for these positions will only be required to have a high school diploma, proficiency in spoken and written English, and prior experience in tourist-related establishments like hotels, casinos or spas.
These workers usually enjoy a monthly salary of $1,800 to $ 2,400 for waiters and $2,800 to $4,800 for hairstylist.
Baldoz said DOLE expects more job vacancies in the luxury cruise ships in the coming years.
“Cruise ships vacations are becoming more popular, so global demand is expected to increase in the next five years with new cruise ships to be put in operations,” Baldoz said.
Philippines is one of the biggest suppliers of workforce in the shipping industry with over 347,150 seafarers worldwide. Most of them work in cargo ships and tanker vessels.
In a related development, Baldoz said the number of local job vacancies in its official job search website, Phil-JobNet (PJN) system, has now breached the one million mark.

Source: Manila Bulletin - January 3, 2014