Thousands of jobs await Pinoys in Australia

MANILA, Philippines – Thousands of jobs await highly skilled Filipino workers in Australia next year, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque announced yesterday.

Roque said the government is set to sign an agreement with Southern Australia for the hiring of thousands of Filipino professionals in January.

“I’m going to Australia in early January for the signing of a memorandum of agreement,” Roque said in an interview.

Under the agreement, Roque said good quality and high paying jobs would be opened for highly skilled Filipino workers.

“Those who would qualify for the jobs would get at least $4,000 monthly salary and there would be no placement fee,” Roque disclosed.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier reported that Australia is expected to hire about 300,000 Filipino workers in the next three to five years.

Aside from Australia, Roque said DOLE is also looking at new markets for Filipino professional workers.

But Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries are expected to hire the most number of skilled Filipino workers including engineers, construction and hotel workers, Roque noted.

However, local recruitment agencies voiced apprehensions that the impending passage of the amended Migrant Workers Act may lead to a downtrend in the hiring of OFWs in 2010.

Recruitment leader Lito Soriano said the proposed law approved by the bicameral committee mandates that the country would deploy workers only to countries with existing bilateral agreements with the Philippines.

Of the nearly 200 countries employing OFWs, only 14 have bilateral agreements.

Recruitment leaders are also worried that the hiring of OFWs in Japan might not push through next year with the recent decision of Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to postpone the implementation of the agreement on the US military establishment in Okinawa.

The Philippine government is hoping to snag some 20,000 jobs for Filipino construction workers in Japan with the start of construction of a US facility there. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)