Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) being deployed to other countries went down by at least one hundred thousand, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
This year’s record at 1,992,746 was a significant 9 percent decrease from the 2,112,331 land-based OFWs in 2017.
Bernard Olalia, Administrator of the POEA attributed this to several reasons, including the three-month deployment ban of OFWs to Kuwait and other policies restricting household service workers (HSW).
He noted that the Saudi Arabia’s prioritization of its subjects in employment also affected the loss of jobs for OFWs, reported Manila Times.
In 2016, Saudi Arabia was the recorded number one destination for OFWs at 39 percent, seconded by the United Arab Emirates at 15.9 percent and followed by Europe at 6.6 percent.
However, Olalia is confident that the deployment will increase in the following year because of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Philippines and Kuwait, and the job opportunities in Europe.
