The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) dropped by 75 percent during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an impact assessment report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The drop in deployment last year was also the Philippines’ lowest labor export output in over 30 years.
The IOM report, which seeks to better understand the challenges and needs of migrant workers, revealed that nearly 800,000 OFWs were repatriated by the end of December 2020.
“The ongoing global COVID-19 crisis and border restrictions continue to have an adverse impact on human mobility with migrant workers,” IOM Philippines chief of mission Kristin Dadey explained.
Sixty-seven percent of the 8,000 OFWs who participated in the study said their decision to return was due to COVID-19 while 87 percent said they were unemployed for three months after they arrived in the country.
Almost half of the respondents also said their income decreased by 60 percent upon return.
The IOM said the pandemic disrupted global aviation and the movement of people will continue to affect the deployment of OFWs.
