Students and other Filipino workers who are looking for a viable career to pursue can take the recent advice from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that recommends a career as a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machinist. The government agency identifies this profession as one of the most in-demand jobs today but there is not enough manpower to meet the current need in industries such as aerospace parts and products manufacturing.

Labor Secretary, Baldoz said, "Steady advances and innovation in modern technology have made the occupation of CNC Machinist as one of the most in-demand jobs today, especially abroad."

"It is an in-demand and hard-to-fill occupation under the manufacturing industry, one of the industries identified as key employment generators in the Project JobsFit: The DOLE 2020 Vision. It is also considered a mission critical skill, being absolutely necessary for industry, takes a long time to produce, and cannot be easily replaced," she added.

According to December 2012 issue of “The Labor Market Trends,” a material published by the DOLE's Bureau of Local Employment that provides insights into the current labor market, the usual worksite for CNC Machinists are in mass production facilities and machinist shops.

The special publication from DOLE said, "CNC Machinists are in charge of programming, set-up, and operation of machines to cut, shape, and form metal parts and castings which are normally used to assemble new type or breed of machines and equipment that could process a variety of products, such as food and clothing, aerospace parts and instruments, and automobile parts."

This profession belongs to the category or industry of metal workers and its equivalent TVET qualifications are Machining NC I, II, and III; Press Machine Operations NC I; Tool and Die Making NC II; CAD CAM Operations NC III; CNC Lathe Machining Operations NC II and III; and CNC Milling Machine Operations NC II and III.

The qualifications to work as a CNC Machinist are a high school diploma and a minimum of
six (6) six months of machine shop vocational experience or an equivalent of 2.5 years of experience.

An average of four years of hands-on experience is required to be considered a CNC Machinist expert, four years of hands-on experience is required. The training for this skill ranges from 337 hours to one-and-a-half year. The training fees can be as low as Php4,000 or can go as high as Php40,450.

The starting monthly salary for a locally-employed machinist is from Php15,000 to 20,000. In foreign countries like Australia, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an experienced CNC machinist could received Php150,000 to Php200,000 a month.

Baldoz said, "In the Philippines, there are only very few skilled CNC Machinists available due to the high cost of investment in training for highly-specialized skills, such as CNC Machining, CNC Programming, manufacturing engineering, and CNC machine repair and maintenance which are to be at the higher-level technology and still relatively uncommon."

The Labor Chief mentioned the key industry players in the Philippines, which are in need of skilled CNC machinists and they are: Neito Sieke Manufacturing Corporation, Applied Machining Corporation, Famous Secret Precision Machining, Inc., DJ Aerospace, JFS Precision Technology, and Moog, Inc.,

The data from the POEA shows that the demand for CNC Machinists is very high as there are currently1,508 job orders for various skilled CNC Machinists positions in many countries in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe, and North America. This demand is expected to continue in 5 to 10 years.

To meet the current demand for the CNC Machinist positions and related professions, the government, through the TESDA had converted seven of its regional training centers into Centers of Excellence in Modern Manufacturing Technologies, namely TESDA Training Center Taguig Campus Enterprise; RTC Baguio City; RTC Batangas; New Lucena Polytechnic College; RTC Talisay, Cebu; RTC Cebu; and RTC Korea Philippines Vocational Training Center, Davao City.

Those interested can check out a brief job profile of Machinists here.