Monthly pay of OFWs in Middle East doubles despite financial crisis

The monthly salaries of Filipino workers employed in various countries abroad have doubled despite the prevailing global crisis, a local recruitment official reported yesterday.

Recruitment leader Lito Soriano said even with the financial crisis, the salary rates of Filipino professionals and other skilled workers in the Middle East are still increasing.

“While other countries are laying off workers, you will be surprised that there has been no drop in the monthly pay of workers in the Middle East,” Soriano disclosed

He said countries in the Middle East have not been affected by the crisis.

“In fact, the salaries for our professional workers rose by 50 percent or even higher compared to 2006 rates,” Soriano said.

From a minimum monthly salary rate of $1,200, Soriano said Filipino engineers are now being offered a monthly pay of $3,000.

“Middle East is still the best place to earn at this time because the employers are shouldering the board and lodging of their employees,” Soriano pointed out.

He attributed the increasing trend in salary rates to the rising demand for foreign workers in the Middle East, which is now experiencing a construction boom.

He said the huge demand for Filipino construction workers is expected to continue until the coming year.

At the moment, Soriano said, many Filipino workers are opting to renew their contracts instead of returning home and look for employment in other countries.

“We see a huge jump in the number of re-hires in the coming year because of this,” Soriano noted.

Meanwhile, the government, particularly the executive and legislative departments, should provide employment to overseas Filipino workers who have lost their jobs abroad for them to remain as “productive members of society,” House Speaker Prospero Nograles said yesterday.

“We have to face this problem now and provide every available assistance, including job placements, for Filipinos who have lost their jobs due to the global economic crunch. Our unemployment problem might grow into crisis proportion if we do not act the soonest.”

Both houses of Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – and the government’s economic managers of President Arroyo, should “re-map a common legislative economic agenda” that would “factor in” more projected layoffs from US, the Middle East and Europe, Nograles said.

“Reports on OFWs losing their jobs because of the creeping global recession is a serious concern,” he said, adding that government should come up with policies and programs “anchored on real facts and figures.”

However, he lamented that government, particularly those agencies concerned, have failed to provide a “real unemployment database,” save for general facts and figures which does not even jibe with the information coming from non-government organizations.

Nograles said with the advent of advance computing technology, it is no longer impossible for the government to get specific names, employment history and the field of specialization of unemployed Filipinos.

A menu of possible government assistance can even be automatically generated through the aid of computing technology. “These are important facts which can help us determining what kind of assistance that they need,” he said.

“If they have entrepreneurial skills, maybe we can refer them to the Department of Trade and Industry for assistance in putting up their own business or we can give them re-employment priority for available job opportunities in countries which continue to have a demand for overseas contract workers,” Nograles said.

The Speaker likewise urged the government to harness the full potential of technology in formulating its action plan to prevent a full-blown unemployment crisis.

“These people are those who are willing to help themselves instead of just waiting for manna from heaven. We should help them so that they can continue contributing for our nation’s economy,” he said.

Nograles highlighted the need for the creation of an accurate and comprehensive central database of Filipino workers here and abroad who have lost their jobs as an aftermath of the global financial crisis.

“Those who are losing their jobs because of the financial crisis have proven their worth as productive Filipinos. They have shown their willingness to sacrifice and toil with their hands just to help not only their families but the country as well,” he said.

“Trickling but alarming reports of thousands of OFWs losing their jobs should mobilize government, with the help of the private sector, to set in place contingency plans and programs to mitigate the domino-effects of such retrenchments,” Nograles suggested.

“We must continue this coordinated action and come up with concrete policies and programs to strengthen current policies and programs related to job creation, promotion of entrepreneurship among Filipinos, promotion of foreign investments and investment dispersal to the countryside,” he added.–Mayen Jaymalin And Delon Porcalla, Philippine Star