High pay in tourism, entertainment lures OFWS back home — Baldoz

Labor chief says tourism and entertainment industries emerge as the second most productive sector after the BPO and call centers

FILIPINO entertainers and others who work in the tourism industry abroad have been encouraged to return home because of competitive salaries and benefits being offered in the country, a government official said yesterday.

“They are attracting our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) to come home because they are being paid the same salaries and compensation that they are receiving in their place of work outside the country,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Baldoz said the entire tourism and entertainment industry has emerged as the second most productive sector after the business process outsourcing (BPO) and call centers.

“Mostly our people from Macau are the ones being migrated back home be- cause they offer very attractive salaries and compensation package,” she said.

If the trend continues, the official said this would mean that President Benigno C. Aquino III is meeting his promise of making migration a choice and not a necessity.

“He (Aquino) wants to offer a genuine choice for workers whether to leave the country or stay in the country,” said Baldoz.

In 2010, Aquino said in his inaugural speech that it would be his administration’s goal to increase local jobs and make overseas employment just an option for Filipino families.

To do this, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) main- tained its call for stronger coordination of the government and the academe.

“The rate of unemployment is very high among college graduates, which partly reflects a mismatch between what is produced by schools and what is required by the market. This also shows that there is insufficient conversation between the schools and the firms,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. (Sunnex)