The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and the Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines (SCMAP) complement each other in saying that their workforce indeed needs to upskill and reskill to cope with the ever-changing retail landscape.

Speaking at the launch of “Section G: Job Blueprint for Wholesale and Retail Trade” on Monday at SM North EDSA Annex in Quezon City, PRA president Roberto Claudio Sr. said workers in the retail sector need to reskill and upskill, especially with the emergence of digitization.

“One of the major concerns in the retail business now is that there are skills required. We need fewer sales personnel anymore in the floor, but we need more warehouse men, inventory management people, all because of the shift of the traditional retail to e-commerce. So as not to lose jobs because of the transition, we are trying to reskill our talents,” he said.

Claudio Sr. said that aside from reskilling, the attrition rate remains a problem among their ranks, suffering from a 10 percent attrition rate.

“If the retail industry has more than 10 million workers, then we are talking a million employees in and out of the job,” he stated.

Moreover, he said the industry is not afraid of artificial intelligence, as the industry feels that AI will be an enabler to make its workforce more efficient.

Draining workforce

Similarly, SCMAP president Dennis Llovido said their current problem is the draining of their workforce, as most of their workers are now working abroad—especially those with skilled talents.

“Most of our forklift operators are now working abroad. They are the skilled workers that we have already lost. That is why part of the strategy in the launched blueprint is that K-12 graduates are ready for the job,” he said.

With this, Llovido suggests that one of the subjects in the K-12 program of the Department of Education be logistics, warehousing, and transportation, with the help of TESDA.

“If we have this, we can say that our workers don’t need to work abroad anymore because we have jobs here, if only our workers were upskilled and reskilled. We have a lot of distribution centers and warehouses here,” Llovido said.

The launch of “Section G: Job Blueprint for Wholesale and Retail Trade” features 15 strategies, which include ‘Skill, Reskill, Upskill,’ or the promotion of K–12 workforce readiness by equipping high school graduates with basic skills relevant to the wholesale and retail sector through curriculum integration and partnerships with government and private sector training programs.

The target of the blueprint is the expansion of employment opportunities, improving the current 10.2 million workers in the wholesale and retail trade to 12.5 million, and increasing the current value from P4.9 trillion to P15.1 trillion by 2034.

“Our wholesale and retail sectors are the backbone of countless Filipino families—from sari-sari store owners to hardworking retail workers. In line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s vision for a future-ready and inclusive economy, this blueprint ensures no Filipino is left behind as we modernize and grow,” said Trade Secretary Cristina A. Roque in her speech.

The blueprint was developed through extensive consultations with various wholesalers, retailers, industry experts, and micro, small, and medium enterprises nationwide, including stakeholder dialogues, surveys, focus group discussions, and inputs gathered from the 2024 Wholesale and Retail Trade Forum.