Amid increasing tensions in the Korean peninsula, Filipino workers continue to seek jobs in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, but the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said there are no takers for female workers so far.
POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said on Monday that the government has temporarily stopped accepting female workers for registration for the Employment Permit System (EPS) Test of Proficiency in Korean (Topik) scheduled this July.
While there are many job vacancies for foreign workers in South Korea, Cacdac added, employers there do not demand female workers.
The POEA chief said the Philippines is allowed to deploy 7,900 workers to South Korea on a labor quota for 2013 but there are not enough male workers to fill up the vacancies.
In 2012, he added, there were 9,372 applicants endorsed for South Korea’s EPS program. Of this number, 3,109 workers got hired. But, Cacdac said, “of the remaining 4,943 names on the list, 1,481 are male and 3,462 are female.”
“There is a slow demand for woman workers in South Korea, hence the temporary stoppage of acceptance of applications for the EPS-Topik,” he added.
Director General Jeong Eunhee of HRD Korea-EPS Center in the Philippines met with Cacdac and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and said, “there is now a slump in demand for woman-workers in their factories and establishments in contrast with an increased number of job offers for [male] applicants lately.”
Meanwhile, the POEA chief reminded applicants that inclusion in the EPS roster, after passing the Topik and the medical examination requirement, is not a guarantee for employment in South Korea.
“It just gives the applicant a chance to be selected by Korean employers within the validity of their Topik certificate of two years,” Cacdac said.
South Korea is host to more than 42,000 Filipino workers and there has not been any decision to repatriate them amid growing threats of nuclear attacks from North Korea. –Estrella Torres, Businessmirror
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