Crisis may drag till 2010; Mideast will save OFWs
Philippines - Bad news: The economic crisis could drag on for two more years, putting more overseas jobs for Filipinos at risk.
Good news: Jobs for Filipinos abound in the Middle East, with or without the crisis.
Filipino economist and former budget secretary Ben Diokno told GMANews.TV on Thursday that the world economies would be fully resuscitated only by 2010.
“And that’s the most optimistic scenario," he said.
Diokno also said the Philippines would not register a growth rate higher than 3.5 percent in 2009, the years some analysts say the crisis would peak.
The US-led economic meltdown has threatened the jobs of thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in countries like the US, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and the UK, data collected by GMA News Research from the Labor department revealed.
Loreto Soriano, executive director of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters Inc. (Fame), said the economic crisis has not threatened the jobs of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
More than 1.7 million Filipino workers are based in the five destination countries, according to the 2007 statistics of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
“The Middle East is still the best destination for OFWs since the Gulf countries can withstand the economic crisis," Soriano said in a press conference in Manila on Thursday.
Soriano explained that the Midle East could withstand the current economic crisis because it continues to export petroleum products, which is still in very high demand. Aside from this, most of the investments in Saudi Arabia are sovereign funds which are less coupled in the global financial system.
He said highly skilled and semi-skilled Filipino workers are in demand in the oil-rich region.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque told reporters on Wednesday that the government’s labor offices in the Middle East stressed that the employment of Filipinos there remain secure as the financial institutions in countries in the region are "liquid."
Roque had earlier downplayed the effects of the economic crisis saying that since a slowdown has yet to be felt in the Middle East—the top destination for Filipino contract workers — Filipino workers have very little to fear.
To show proof that Filipino workers’ deployment remains unaffected, Roque said in October that a Saudi Arabian company has expressed its eagerness to hire some 20,000 foreign workers.
Guillermo Luz, executive vice president of the Ayala Foundation, said that while the Middle East has yet to feel the global crisis’ effects, there is no assurance that it will survive the crisis unharmed.
“They might not be affected to the same extent but they will not be immune also," Luz told GMANews.TV in an interview last October.
Massive layoffs from affected countries could hinder OFWs from sending home bigger remittances, which has been the lifeblood of Philippine economy, said Luz, who is also a member of the influential Makati Business Club.
Emmanuel Leyco, who had worked in a credit rating agency, belied the government’s perception that unless the economic crunch reaches the Middle East, Filipino workers won’t feel the brunt of the financial meltdown.
He said some Middle East countries had invested in stocks and bonds in the US that were hit by the economic crisis, thus making them vulnerable to the crunch.
“In a recession there is no such thing as a recession-proof sector," said Leyco.
He also said that newly-deployed OFWs would be the hardest-hit by an economic meltdown because most businesses implement a “last in, first out" policy in their human resources management. He said foreign workers are also often seen as low-priority in employment retention. - GMANews.TV
Good news: Jobs for Filipinos abound in the Middle East, with or without the crisis.
Filipino economist and former budget secretary Ben Diokno told GMANews.TV on Thursday that the world economies would be fully resuscitated only by 2010.
“And that’s the most optimistic scenario," he said.
Diokno also said the Philippines would not register a growth rate higher than 3.5 percent in 2009, the years some analysts say the crisis would peak.
The US-led economic meltdown has threatened the jobs of thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in countries like the US, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and the UK, data collected by GMA News Research from the Labor department revealed.
Loreto Soriano, executive director of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters Inc. (Fame), said the economic crisis has not threatened the jobs of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
More than 1.7 million Filipino workers are based in the five destination countries, according to the 2007 statistics of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
“The Middle East is still the best destination for OFWs since the Gulf countries can withstand the economic crisis," Soriano said in a press conference in Manila on Thursday.
Soriano explained that the Midle East could withstand the current economic crisis because it continues to export petroleum products, which is still in very high demand. Aside from this, most of the investments in Saudi Arabia are sovereign funds which are less coupled in the global financial system.
He said highly skilled and semi-skilled Filipino workers are in demand in the oil-rich region.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque told reporters on Wednesday that the government’s labor offices in the Middle East stressed that the employment of Filipinos there remain secure as the financial institutions in countries in the region are "liquid."
Roque had earlier downplayed the effects of the economic crisis saying that since a slowdown has yet to be felt in the Middle East—the top destination for Filipino contract workers — Filipino workers have very little to fear.
To show proof that Filipino workers’ deployment remains unaffected, Roque said in October that a Saudi Arabian company has expressed its eagerness to hire some 20,000 foreign workers.
Guillermo Luz, executive vice president of the Ayala Foundation, said that while the Middle East has yet to feel the global crisis’ effects, there is no assurance that it will survive the crisis unharmed.
“They might not be affected to the same extent but they will not be immune also," Luz told GMANews.TV in an interview last October.
Massive layoffs from affected countries could hinder OFWs from sending home bigger remittances, which has been the lifeblood of Philippine economy, said Luz, who is also a member of the influential Makati Business Club.
Emmanuel Leyco, who had worked in a credit rating agency, belied the government’s perception that unless the economic crunch reaches the Middle East, Filipino workers won’t feel the brunt of the financial meltdown.
He said some Middle East countries had invested in stocks and bonds in the US that were hit by the economic crisis, thus making them vulnerable to the crunch.
“In a recession there is no such thing as a recession-proof sector," said Leyco.
He also said that newly-deployed OFWs would be the hardest-hit by an economic meltdown because most businesses implement a “last in, first out" policy in their human resources management. He said foreign workers are also often seen as low-priority in employment retention. - GMANews.TV
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