A lawmaker on Tuesday, August 28, said more Filipino nurses are flying to the United States to look for job opportunities due to higher pay and additional benefits.
ACTS-OFW Representative Aniceto Bertiz III said that this claim is backed by the increase in the number of Filipino nurses who are taking the US licensure examination.
Bertiz said that 4,533 Filipino nurses took the exam from January to June this year compared to the 3,572 Filipinos who took the same exam during the same period last year.
Meanwhile, 181,344 Filipino nurses have taken the exam since its inception in 1995.
The lawmaker said that this increase may be attributed to the higher hourly salary offered to nurses in the US. Bertiz said: “Of course owing to our exposure to the Western culture, Filipino nurses find it easier to work and live in America.”
In 2017, median pay of registered nurses in the US reached $70,000 (Php3,740,100) per year, or $33.65 every hour, as per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The BLS explained that many nurses hope to work in the US as demand continues to rise in a bid to replace the high number of nurses that will retire in the coming decade.
“However, the supply of new nurses entering the labor market has increased in recent years. This increase has resulted in competition for jobs in some areas of the country. Employers also may prefer candidates who have some related work experience or certification in a specialty area,” the BLS said.
