DoLE execs seek OFW placements in new labor marts

09/06/2008

Labor officials are currently in talks with various foreign executives to create “new markets” for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) announced yesterday.

At the House briefing on the proposed 2009 budget for the DoLE, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said they are negotiating with “non-traditional countries” such as Norway, Finland and France to create job opportunities for migrant workers.

“Before, France was a closed market,” Roque said as he announced that the rich European country is now being tapped for nursing and engineering jobs for Filipinos.

He added they are also negotiating with officials of the southern part of Australia on the possibility of sending around 30,000 mining, health care and information technology Filipino workers every year for the next 10 years.

The department is also considering sending health care workers to Norway and Finland, eand more Filipino workers to Canada, said the DoLE secretary.

At GMANews.TV, Roque said, negotiations with France began six months ago, while they have been talking to Australian officials for three months now.

They have also sent a delegation to Bulgaria and Romania to engage in talks with officials there, while another Philippine delegation will be sent to Canada next month, he said.

“It’s demand-driven,” said Roque. “Increased deployment depends on the labor requirement.”

He said the deployment of OFWs abroad is a “given” policy of the state, provided that the safety and protection of Filipino workers are ensured.

The DoLE is looking to increase the number of OFWs in 2009 by five percent or 220,000 individuals from 2007’s 1.078 million OFWs.

The department is proposing a P6.86-billion for 2009, which is 6.5 percent higher than the agency’s budget in 2008.

The DoLE wants its 2009 budget for job research assistance for Filipinos to be increased to P511 million. The labor chief said the job search assistance would benefit about 16 million workers, including some 800,000 seeking jobs abroad.

Roque added the bulk of the proposed budget would go to the Technical Educational Skills Development Authority to fund trainings and scholarships.

Roque said this would help reduce the number of unemployed Filipinos, which now number to 2.9 million. PNA, Mina Diaz

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