Palace eyes 2008 as another good year for OFWs

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye on Sunday said he is confident that 2008 would be another banner year for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) marked by increased job opportunities and higher wages.
In his weekly column "The View From the Palace," Bunye based his prediction on the shifting employment profile of Filipino migrant workers from non-skilled to skilled.

He said that unlike in previous years, most of OFWs leaving the country now are professionals and skilled workers.

"In 2006, 60 percent of Filipinos working abroad were professionals and skilled workers. In 2007, the deployment ratio became 73-27 in favor of skilled workers," Bunye said.

He described this change in the employment pattern of OFWs over the last two years as no less than dramatic.

"This explains why despite the constant level of deployment, foreign exchange remittances has been increasing," he added.

Earlier this week, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said the country’s track record of sending one million OFWs workers abroad in the past two years would be topped this year.

He said that though it is not a policy of the government to send workers abroad, OFWs continue to help sustain the country’s economic growth through their remittances, especially Filipino migrant workers belonging to the higher pay levels.

Brion said one reason for the increased OFW remittances in 2007 was that "more professional and skilled workers were employed abroad than non-skilled workers."

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

Brion explained that contrary to the fears voiced by some sectors, the recruitment of nurses for overseas jobs was not affected by the nursing board examination scandal last year.

The demand for Filipino nurses in Europe, Canada and even Saudi Arabia remains high, he added.

In fact, last year the Philippines could only send about 3,000 of the 5,000 nurses needed by Saudi Arabia, the labor official said.

Brion assured, however, that the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Health would also adopt a new policy in the deployment of nurses so as not to unduly affect the operations of local hospitals and clinics.--ABS-CBN News

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