Despite tight rules, hiring of OFWs up

The rate of hiring for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) posted slight growth this year despite stricter regulations imposed by various host countries and increasing competition from other foreign workers.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the number of Filipinos deployed for overseas employment in the first nine months of the year went up by 1.2 percent compared to figures posted over the same period last year.

Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Sto. Tomas said 669,875 Filipino workers were hired abroad from January to Sept. 8 — 8,936 more than the 678,271 deployed last year.

Sto. Tomas attributed the deployment growth to the increasing preference for Filipino workers — not only in traditional but also in emerging markets for OFWs, like the United Kingdom.

"New markets such as United Kingdom, South Korea, Ireland (and) China are now complementing the traditional markets where OFWs continue to be engaged productively, like Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Taiwan," Sto. Tomas said.

She added that the UK is now among the top 10 destinations for OFWs after it hired over 11,000 OFWs, mostly nurses and other medical workers.

"From 198 OFWs hired in 1996, deployment went up to 18,347 in the UK last year," Sto. Tomas said while adding that other countries in Europe are now employing large numbers of Filipino workers.

However, traditional markets like Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Taiwan and Kuwait remained the leading destinations for Filipino workers. — Mayen Jaymalin