MANILA, Philippines – Bleak employment prospects seem to have dampened a bit the desire of Filipino nurses to work in the United States.
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the country’s largest labor group, yesterday reported a slight drop in the number of Filipino nurses who took the US national licensure examination for nurses, with only 9,837 examinees in the first six months of the year.
“The number of Filipino nurses who took the NCLEX and implicitly sought jobs in the US in the first semester was 107 shy from 9,944 Filipino nurses who took the examination during the same period last year,” said TUCP secretary-general and former senator Ernesto Herrera, referring to the National Council Licensure Examination administered by the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (NCSBN).
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier reported a declining demand for Filipino nurses and other professionals in the United States due to the prevailing economic slump in the country. – Mayen Jaymalin