More Filipino workers find employment abroad despite crisis

Feb 24, 2009, 8:20 GMT

   Manila - The deployment of Filipino workers abroad rose by 20 per cent in the first month of the year despite the global economic crisis, a Philippine labour official said Tuesday.

   Jennifer Manalili, administrator of the Philippine Overseas Administration, said the number of Filipino workers who went abroad for work in January reached 165,000 from 132,000 in the same month last year.

   Manalili said her office was still determining which sector and profession posted the highest number of deployment.

   'We are still in the process of collecting the data now and we will have the final report before the end of the month,' she said.

   Manalili said the January data somewhat eased the concern of the Philippine government about the possible decline of demands for Filipino workers abroad as the economic crisis battered countries around the globe.

   Government data showed that more than 5,000 overseas Filipino workers have returned to the Philippines since October 2008 after they were laid off, while more than 45,000 Filipino workers lost their jobs in the Philippines as multinational companies closed shop here.

   The government is heavily dependent on the remittances of the country's more than 8 million overseas workers to shore up the sagging economy.

   The central bank said remittances rose 13.7 per cent to 16.42 billion dollars in 2008, from 14.44 billion dollars in 2007. That accounts for at least 10 per cent of the gross domestic product.

   President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and senior government officials have been aggressively seeking new employment opportunities for Filipino workers abroad, including in high-risk countries like Iraq and Nigeria.