OFW deployment hits 1.8 M in 2013

MANILA – Filipino workers remain popular with foreign employers, with the number of workers hired abroad reaching over 1.8 million last year.

“We are still finalizing the report, but based on the latest figures that I saw, we were able to match the 2012 deployment figure of 1.8 million,” Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Hans Cacdac said.

Cacdac said POEA recorded the highest ever deployment of Filipino workers in 2012.

According to Cacdac, the political instability in various countries abroad a year ago has not adversely affected the hiring of Filipino workers.

“There was no decline in hiring because the countries that are politically unstable are not traditional destinations for Filipino workers,” Cacdac pointed out.

Most of the Filipino workers were deployed in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and several other Middle East countries.

The POEA yesterday launched a new system that will help prevent aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from falling prey to illegal recruiters.

Cacdac said the POEA came out with a mobile application system that will allow OFWs to check whether they are dealing with licensed recruitment agencies and if there are job orders.

“With a touch of their mobile phone, they can check on the spot if the person offering job is a licensed recruiter,” he said.

Cacdac said the POEA hopes to eventually include in the new system an application that will allow returning OFWs to apply for the required overseas employment contract.

Based on POEA records, Cacdac said, there are fewer cases of illegal recruitment, but stressed the government would continue the intensified campaign against it.

Meanwhile, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said that 4,000 jobs were generated with the new enterprises started by OFWs who availed of the government’s reintegration program. –Mayen Jaymalin, The Philippine Star