DOLE says new jobs for Filipinos opening up in six countries

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday said that new job opportunities are opening up for Filipino workers in six countries with a high demand for workers.

Labor Department Secretary Marianito Roque told members of the Committee on Appropriations that the government is discussing with a number of countries for the entry of Filipino workers in France, Norway, Finland, Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

Roque said that France needs nurses, information technology professionals and engineers while Norway and Finland need more health workers.

The DOLE secretary meanwhile, said that the Philippines will increase its deployment of Filipino workers to Canada, later on in Alberta which is an oil-rich province, that can generate 40,000 jobs a year for highly-skilled workers.

He said the government is also having discussions with the Australian Deputy Prime Minister for the entry of 30,000 professionals over the next 10 years especially in the southern part of Australia, in Adelaide.

Roque said engineers and IT professionals are in demand.

He told representatives that Saudi Arabia continues to increase its demand for Filipino workers because of the rise of megacities in the country.

Roque said Filipino workers continue to attract overseas foreign employers because of their technical and language ability.

About 200,000 new jobs overseas are expected to be created, an increase of 20% to the current number of more than a million overseas Filipino workers who send in $1.4-B in remittances.

Reflects lack of local opportunities

In a related development, activist labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno chairman Elmer Labog criticized DOLE for its "export labor policy."

Labog said that this demonstrates the lack of domestic labor opportunities.

"What the government should do is to improve wages and benefits for the employees here," Labog said noting there are 3,400 documented workers that leave the country every day.

Roque explained that the Technical Education and Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) has been actively training Filipino workers for both overseas domestic and overseas employment.

Roque and other labor undersecretaries and department heads faced the budget deliberations at the House of Representatives Friday.

DOLE's proposed budget for 2009 is P6.862-billion, a 6.5% increase of its 2008 budget for 2008 at P6.443-billion (up P419-million).

Members of the House appropriations committee moved to have DOLE's budget increased.

Aside from TESDA, among other agencies under the DOLE umbrella are the Institute of Labor Studies, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). Report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News

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