Austria looking to take in more Filipino workers

THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Austria is looking to admit more skilled labor across all industries, at a rate of about 500 a year.

Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the two countries kicked off PhilippineAustria Friendship Week on Wednesday with talks on promoting safe and fair labor migration.

Austria is home to about 5,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) employed mostly in the hospitality, food service, and healthcare industries.

“We are here not just to celebrate the mutual friendship between the two nations but also to collaborate on other areas of cooperation continuously, particularly on the deployment of Filipino professionals and skilled workers,” Mr. Cacdac said during the event’s opening session in Mandaluyong City.

Mr. Cacdac said the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Vienna will open in the third quarter to support the increasing number of Filipino workers in Austria and provide guidance to Austrian employers.

The MWO in Milan currently oversees migrant worker affairs in Austria. In 2022, the number of OFWs deployed to Austria rose 127%.

Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy DirectorGeneral Georg Konetzky, speaking at the same event, reaffirmed his country’s “highest protection standards” for migrant workers and is “committed to safe and ethical labor migration.”

“Austria has many decades of excellent experience with qualified workers from the Philippines, especially in the healthcare sector. We are grateful for the reliable support of well-educated and skilled Filipino workers helping us address our labor demands,” he said.

Last year, the two countries signed a labor agreement in Vienna.

Austria expressed interest in hiring about 500 OFWs yearly to help fill around 75,000 to 200,000 job openings in healthcare, construction and engineering, information technology, and tourism and hospitality.

In an April briefing, the DMW projected sustained growth for remittances from OFWs in Europe.

“From 2022, we can see that there was a 3-5% increase in remittances. We can see that with the number of engagements we’re having (in Europe), it will definitely increase in 2024,” Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne M. Caunan said at the briefing.

The Central Bank reported that $3.8 billion worth of remittances came from Europe in 2023.

Hungary, Portugal, Spain, and the Czech Republic are among the new countries the Philippines established labor agreements with. —