LOCAL labor officials are uncertain what 2009 has in store for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amid the global financial turmoil.
But Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) 7 officer-in-charge Evelia Durato said she remains optimistic as there is growing demand for Filipino workers in the Middle East, North America and Australia.
She cited government records, which show that about 27,000 OFWs have left through the Mactan Cebu International Airport
from January to November 2008, reflecting a 10 percent increase over figures in the same period last year.
“The OFW deployment has been on an increasing trend for the past five years. Workers were sent to fill up jobs in the services sector—including health, food and hospitality services—in other countries,” she said in a recent interview with news reporters.
She cited Middle East countries like Dubai, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia where boom in the construction sector has
raised demand for skilled workers like pipefitters, welders and construction workers.
She believes that despite the global recession, developed countries would still need skilled workers.
Vacancies
Durato and Department of Labor and Employment regional director Elias Cayanong said the Philippines is faced with the challenge of filling up so many vacancies and job orders from Australia and Middle East.
“While some OFWs have been sent back, we have also deployed many (OFWs),” Durato said.
Returning OFWs displaced by the global economic crisis are assisted by various government agencies, including Dole and the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), a one-stop shop and networking hub of reintegration services for OFWs, said Cayanong.
At NRCO, returning OFWs may seek job search assistance, training and re-tooling assistance, psycho-social services or avail themselves of programs designed for entrepreneurship and enterprise development, special retirement, special remittance and brain-gain movement initiatives, among others.
This is backed up with one-stop OFW services counters that have been set up in various regions and at international airports. (NRC)
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