DOLE: Prospects for Filipinos seeking employment abroad remain bright

Prospects for Filipinos seeking employment abroad remain rosy, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said today, as he pointed out that job opportunities still abound for Filipinos in many foreign countries.

Brion made the statement during the taping this afternoon in Malacanang of “The Cabinet Speaks” hosted by Undersecretary Martin Crisostomo, with co-host Palo Romero of the Philippine Star.

“For example in the past two years, we have always topped the one million level of overseas Filipino workers. And I would say that for 2008, we will easily top the one million level,” Brion said.

Although it is not a policy of the government to send workers abroad, Brion said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) continue to help the country’s economic growth through their remittances, especially the OFWs belonging to the higher pay levels.

“One reason why we have steep remittances now is, in 2007, we had more professional and skilled workers going overseas rather than non-skilled workers,” Brion said.

In 2006, he said that 60 percent of the more than one million Filipinos who worked abroad were professionals, while 40 percent were non-skilled workers.

In 2007, Brion said the deployment of skilled overseas workers increased to 73 percent compared to 27 percent for non-skilled workers, including domestic workers.

Brion attributed the shift in the employment pattern of OFWs to the household service worker reform package established last March wherein the Philippines set a minimum $400 salary for Filipino household workers deployed abroad.

He said Filipinos with higher opportunities for deployment abroad are topped by those coming from the medical and health, information and technology, and services sectors.

Brion said nurses were not affected by the nursing examination scandal last year, citing the big employment opportunities in Europe, Canada and even Saudi Arabia.

He said that last year alone, the Philippines could only send about 3,000 of the 5,000 needed by Saudi Arabia.

However, Brion said the DOLE and Department of Health (DOH) would also adopt a new policy in the deployment of nurses so as not to affect the operation of local hospitals and clinics.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more