More jobs expected in Arab countries

The Department of Labor and Employment expects more workers to be deployed to the Middle East in the coming years as the Philippine government continues to negotiate with the Arab countries to ensure the safety and protection of workers there.

The labor agency said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon, Israel, Libya, and Jordan would be generating the most number of new job opportunities.

At present, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in the Middle East are pursuing different marketing strategies to ensure the OFWs' access to the new job opportunities that would be available starting next year.

In a press statement, she added that the labor attachés in the Middle East are projecting a total of 258,950 new jobs that would be generated in the region in the next three years.

Some 173,600 new jobs will be opened in the Gulf Cooperation Countries of KSA, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman; and another 85,350 new jobs in non-Gulf Cooperation Countries like Lebanon, Israel, Libya, and Jordan.

DOLE reported that OFWs deployed in these countries totaled 347,311 or 98.56 percent of the total number of land-based OFWs deployed in the Middle East in 2004. They constituted almost half, or 49.3 percent of the total land-based OFWs deployed globally last year.

In the GCC countries, the most number of new jobs are expected to be generated by the sustained construction activities and expansion in the medical, tourism, retail, and information and computer technology sectors. Exploration of oil and gas will also be expanded and, thus, expected to generate new jobs.

Sto. Tomas said that the DOLE and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration would market OFW services directly to the employers through the conduct of labor marketing missions in the region. Foreign employers would be invited to job fairs that the labor department will be conducting.- Wenna A. Berondo