POEA reports uptick in overseas deployment of Filipino workers
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is noticing an uptick in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers this year as the top countries of destination begin to ease restrictions.
POEA chief Bernard Olalia told state television on Monday that the deployment of sea-based workers is slowly returning to levels seen before the pandemic, without stating specific numbers.
“Unti-unti na po siyang bumabalik sa ating pre-pandemic level bagamat ang landbased natin ay medyo umaangat, hindi ganoon kabilis tulad ng seabased natin,” Olalia said.
(Deployment is slowly returning to the pre-pandemic level but the deployment of landbased workers, although it is slowly going up, is not recovering as fast as our sea-based workers.)
“Meron po tayong pinag-angat ng 30% magmula sa datos ng 2021 kumpara sa 2022 sa deployment natin sa ating landbased workers.”
(We saw a 30% increase compared with our 2021 data compared with 2022 in the deployment of our landbased workers.)
Government data shows over 3.737 million Filipinos went home due to the pandemic, more than half of which or over 2.31 million are returning OFWs. More landbased OFWs went home at 1.488 million, compared with the 822,559 logged for sea-based workers.
Olalia noted that countries such as Canada, Israel, and Germany have been welcoming to Filipino workers. Meanwhile, Olalia said countries such as South Korea and Taiwan have been reopening their borders to allow the deployment of OFW factory workers.
To recall, Department of Labor and Employment recently inked a labor pact with the local government of Yukon in Canada that would allow the hiring of Filipino professionals in vacancies where Yukon employers cannot recruit Canadian workers.
Meanwhile, the country has seen off a first batch of hotel workers to Israel.
"Meron na tayong napalipad na mahigit 60 at madadagdagan pa sa mga susunod na linggo o buwan. Ang ating deployment doon ay aabot ng mahigit 500 workers," Olalia said.
(We have sent over 60 workers and this number is expected to go up in the coming weeks or months. Our deployment of workers there will reach over 500 workers.)
READ: 30,000 jobs open for Pinoys in Israel
The country also recently agreed to expand its government-to-government labor agreement with Germany to allow the deployment of more Filipino healthcare workers.
Olalia noted that the Philippines has more than 40 bilateral labor agreements with countries of destination for OFWs. — Kaycee Valmonte
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