Expanding OFW demand offsets Saudization impact —solon

Filipino workers who want jobs in Saudi Arabia need not to worry about the kingdom's policy of giving preferential employment to its nationals as demand is going higher in other countries.

“While Saudi Arabia’s labor market is shrinking, the demand for Filipino workers in other parts of the globe —in Asia, North America and Europe —continues to expand,” ACTS-OFW party-list Representative John Bertiz III said in a statement.

According to Bertiz, the total number of land-based Filipino workers deployed around the world is expected to reach 1.9 million.

“Of the 1.9 million, some 21 percent or 400,000 are new hires, while around 79 percent or 1.5 million are rehires,” he said.

Earlier, the Department of Labor and Employment warned of a 30-percent plunge in the number of Filipino workers going to Saudi Arabia for work is primarily due to Saudization.

“Saudization simply means that certain job openings in Saudi Arabia previously available to foreigners, including Filipinos, may no longer be there because these are now being reserved for (Saudi) nationals,” Bertiz said.

This resulted in a decrease in the amount of remittance sent by Filipino migrant workers from Saudi Arabia by 12.3 percent to $1.662 billion in the first nine months of the year from $1.894 billion in the same period in 2017, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

But Bertiz said this decline in cash remittances from Filipinos in Saudi Arabia is being offset by those coming from other OFWs in other parts of the world.

For instance, Bertiz said cash transfers from Singapore increased by 5.8 percent in $1.386 billion in the first nine months of the year from $1.311 billion in the same period last year.

At the same time, OFW remittances from Japan also rose by 4.4 percent to $1.131 billion in the first nine months this year from $1.084 billion in the same period in 2017.

Other large sources of remittances from OFWs posting strong growth from January to September are:

•     The United Kingdom, $1.1 billion, up 9.9 percent from $1.0 billion;
•     Canada, $711.27 million, up 48.7 percent from $478.31 million;
•     Germany, $645.14M, up 15.2 percent from $560.03M;
•     Hong Kong, $612.61M, up 10.5 percent from $554.33M;
•     Taiwan, $420.59M, up 46.4 percent from $287.23M;
•     Malaysia, $341.68M, up 51.2 percent from $226.04M;
•     South Korea, $247.84M, up 21.9 percent from $203.24 M;
•     The Netherlands, $226.56M, up 57.1 percent from $144.19M;
•     New Zealand, $184.94M, up 105 percent from $90.23M; and
•     Norway, $123.40M, up 23.3 percent from $100.07M.

Overall, remittances sent by OFWs amounted to $21.3 billion in the first nine months of 2018, the BSP said, higher by 2.5 percent from $20.7 billion in the same period last year. —Erwin Colcol/LBG, GMA News