Demand for OFWs seen to continue

The government expects continuing demand for Filipino workers abroad as a result of hiring agreements forged between the Philippines and other countries that hire foreign labor.

Among these countries that committed to hire more Filipino professionals and skilled workers include Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, and Japan, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

Recently, the Labor department reported that the government entered into a bilateral agreement with South Korea on the employment of Filipino overseas workers during President Gloria Arroyo’s visit there.

The memorandum of understanding signed between the Labor department and its South Korean counterpart in May was credited for the hiring 5,000 Filipino workers in the South Korean manufacturing industry and in other sectors within the next 10 months.

The Labor department added that the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Tripoli has started talks with the Libyan Health Ministry for the recruitment of about 4,000 Filipino medical workers in Libya.

Plus, the Labor department said despite the relatively weak global economic environment, the government’s intensified efforts, such as employment facilitation programs, to assist retrenched overseas workers have contributed to the deceleration in the rise in number of displaced OFWs.

OFW remittances

With these positive data on labor demand, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that “the stream of remittances from overseas Filipino continue to show signs of strength despite lingering global fragilities, providing some cautious optimism regarding steady remittance levels for 2009.”

OFW remittances helped buoy up the economy amid the global economic slump.

Remittances from overseas Filipinos grew year-on-year by 3.7 percent in May 2009 to reach a record high of $1.48 billion.

The second-highest level of remittances, at $1.47 billion, was registered in March 2009.

Cumulative remittances for the first five months of the year totaled $6.98 billion, representing a 2.8-percent increment from the level recorded in the same period last year. Remittances from both sea-based and land-based workers posted gains at 4.6 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.  –Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter, Manila Times