DEMAND RISING AGAIN FOR PH NURSES, CAREGIVERS

Remittances in January-March amounted to US$7.8 billion, up by 1.3 percent; interest among Filipinos in working abroad remains high, according to a jobs website

Aside from employment prospects in the Middle East, job opportunities are also on the rise in Japan, Germany, and Korea, an official said.

Fenita Berdon, labor officer at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), said in a press conference that tremendous opportunities are also in store for Filipinos who wish to work abroad.

“Germany is in need of nurses. Japan, on the other hand, is in need of caregivers. Korea is also open to hiring factory workers,” said Berdon. She, however, pointed out that for those who want to work in Korea, they must learn the Korean language and pass the language exam.

“Skills are important but employers also want to make sure there would be no language barrier,” she said. “Employers also look into work experience.”

A report said that Japan has seen a sharp increase in the number of caregivers accepted from overseas via economic partnership deals, as long as they have passed the national certification examination.

A total of 213 foreign caregivers passed the fiscal 2017 exam, more than double the previous year’s 104, the report said. Successful exam takers from the Philippines stood at 62, with a passing rate of 37.8 percent.

Japan’s welfare ministry forecasts the country will face a shortage of some 380,000 care workers in elderly nursing care facilities in 2025, when Japan’s first baby boomers will have turned 75.

Berdon advised aspiring applicants for overseas employment—both land-based and seabased—to register with the POEA for them to participate in the pre-employment seminar online.

The POEA launched in March this year the new e-Registration System for agency-hired workers and seafarers.

The new registration system will provide newly hired workers and seafarers with unique registration numbers, which will link their personal profiles with their e-contract system.

Mynimo.com, for one, is mounting a one-day career event on May 26 in the Trade Hall of SM City Cebu. Over 11,000 job vacancies both local and overseas will be promoted at the job fair.

Remittances

In a survey among the event’s participating employers and applicants, Mynimo said 72 percent of the applicants have expressed interest in working abroad. Most of them (81 percent) are graduates of vocational courses.

Applicants aged between 36 years old and 40 years old are more likely to work abroad. Females at 59 percent are more willing to work abroad than males, the survey showed.

Partial data from the POEA showed a total of 1,281,506 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were deployed from January to September last year.

Some 1,058,029 were sent to various countries as land-based workers while 223,477 were hired as sea-based workers.

Money sent home by these workers reached $28.1 billion last year.

Remittance inflow in December was the largest on record and was buoyed by cash remittances from the United States, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore.

Remittances in the first quarter this year stood at $7.8 billion, up by 1.3 percent.

However, personal remittances in March 2018, at $2.6 billion, were 9.9 percent lower than the level posted in the same month last year. Countries that logged biggest declines in remittances are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and the United States.