2008 another banner year for OFWs - Bunye

Citing increased job opportunities and higher wages, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye predicted Sunday that year 2008 will be another banner year for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). A Malacañang statement said Bunye cited the shifting employment profile of Filipino migrant workers from non-skilled to skilled. He said that unlike in previous years, most of OFWs leaving the country now are professionals and skilled workers. Bunye described this change in the employment pattern of OFWs over the last two years as no less than dramatic. "In 2006, 60 percent of Filipinos working abroad were professionals and skilled workers. In 2007, the deployment ratio became 73-27 in favor of skilled workers," Bunye said. He added this explains why despite the constant level of deployment, foreign exchange remittances has been increasing. Last week, labor secretary Arturo Brion said the country's track record of sending one million OFWs workers abroad in the past two years would be topped this year. He said that while it is not government's policy to send workers abroad, OFWs continue to help sustain the country’s economic growth through their remittances, especially Filipino migrant workers belonging to the higher pay levels. Brion said Filipinos with higher opportunities for deployment overseas are those coming from the medical and health, information and technology, and services sectors. He added that contrary to the fears voiced by some sectors, the recruitment of nurses for overseas jobs was not affected by the nursing board examination scandal last year. The demand for Filipino nurses in Europe, Canada and even Saudi Arabia remains high, he added. But Brion assured the DOLE and the Department of Health (DOH) would also adopt a new policy in the deployment of nurses so as not to unduly affect the operations of local hospitals and clinics. - GMANews.TV