POEA reports 3% drop in OFW hiring

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino workers appeared to be losing their popularity among foreign employers.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has reported a considerable decline in the number of highly skilled Filipino hired overseas.

POEA chief Carlos Cao said the agency recorded a three percent dropped in the number of Filipinos deployed for employment abroad last year.

“Based on our data we have recorded a considerable reduction of deployed workers to 1.37 million total deployment in 2010 compared to 1.42 million Filipino workers hired in 2009,” Cao disclosed.

POEA, earlier, reported a declining trend in overseas deployment in 2010 apparently due to the lingering effects of the global financial crisis.

POEA officials noted that countries employing Filipinos like Canada are yet to recover from the financial crisis and hired limited number of Filipino workers last year.

There also other foreign employers, like those from Hong Kong who are now opting employ other nationalities because they demand lower salaries.

Local recruiters also attributed the dropped in hiring of overseas Filipino workers to the implementation of the amended Migrant Workers Act late this year.

The new law required foreign employers and recruiters to provide insurance coverage for every workers, but they could not afford its cost.

Recruiters further claimed that they are having difficulty filling in the job orders from various countries abroad due to shortage of highly skilled workers in the country.

President Aquino, however, said that his administration would push programs aims at promoting local employment so that Filipinos would have the choice whether to stay or seek employment abroad.

But Cao said the government could not stop deployment of Filipinos abroad.

Cao said he expect hiring of Filipino workers to continue and even increase for the next five years. –Mayen Jaymalin (philstar.com)