Top Countries Employing OFWs in 2010

Job orders from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) shows that Saudi Arabia provides the most number of job vacancies of OFWs as of January 2010 and is expected to last throughout the year.

More than 16,000 jobs are open to overseas Filipino workers in different industries. Among the vacancies are those for engineers, nurses, domestic helpers, operators and others.

Countries following Saudi Arabia in their demand of OFWs are Qatar, UAE, Taiwan and Kuwait, all offering more than 20,000 thousand in total of job vacancies offered to Filipinos only this January 2010. The demand for workers is not only limited in the industry of building and construction but also extends to industries like nursing, dentistry, photography, design and domestic help.

Employment in other parts of the world dwindled, but countries like Bahrain, the United States, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong are still seeking Filipinos to work for them despite the economic crunch. The POEA also remains positive that job opportunities will still be available in other countries like Italy, France, Germany and even in Africa.

Former DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that Filipinos are preferred by overseas employers because “they are more skilled, more qualified and more hardworking”.

There are lots of job opportunities for the OFWs this year. However, the DFA continues to give advice to Filipino jobseekers to secure employment from licensed recruitment agencies and recruitment networks to avoid scams made to target hopeful Filipinos.