The number of overseas Filipino workers who will get employed in the Middle East is predicted to decline further in 2019 due to the lower prices of crude in the region.
Recruitment consultant and migration expert Manny Geslani said that deployment of OFWs in the Middle East will be affected by the economies in the region because of lower crude prices, reported Inquirer.net.
During the past two years, the deployment of OFWs in the Middle East have been declining consistently due to the said reason. In 2017, deployment of OFWs decreased by nine percent, while an eight to 10 percent decline is seen in 2018.
Geslani said the decline in the deployment of OFWs in the Middle East in 2018 was mostly due to the deployment ban to Kuwait implemented by the government earlier this year which lasted for nearly five months.
Due to the deployment ban, the number of household workers deployed in Kuwait was nearly affected by 80% and only 20,000 of them were deployed in 2018 in the said Gulf state.
In 2017, Kuwait had an average deployment of 60,000 newly hired HSWs.
Geslani also noted that over 3,000 OFWs in Saudi Arabia had to be laid off due to “disastrous closure” of construction and manufacturing companies.
“Huge construction projects in the billions of dollars are now being reassessed in the Kingdom, and Saudization is being implemented at a faster pace with previous white collar jobs for expatriates are now being taken over by Saudi nationals,” Geslani said.
