MANILA, Feb. 2 (PNA) — There are jobs and career opportunities in the local market as well as livelihood opportunities for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who are looking to return to the country, according to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
“Career opportunities are aplenty in the Philippines and if a returning OFW opts to engage in business, that is welcome because that is more potentially rewarding. The government, through the DOLE, can help through our livelihood programs,” she said.
The DOLE chief issued the statement amid reports on the Saudi Arabia-Iran conflict, which create worries for the safety and welfare of Filipino workers in the Middle East.
The tension over the conflict, though, has since dissipated and the political and security situation in the region continues to be calm.
Baldoz reported that as of date, there are over 230,000 vacancies culled from employers’ postings in the PhilJobNet and government, including 30,000 vacant teacher-positions from the Department of Education and 15,000 nursing vacancies in public hospitals as reported by the Department of Health (DOH).
Of the total number, 90,000 are overseas vacancies in alternative markets derived from valid job orders in the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Meanwhile, the DOLE chief directed labor officials in the Gulf and those DOLE agencies involved in employment facilitation to prepare in case the tension between the two countries worsens.
“Because of the development involving Saudi Arabia and Iran, I have directed all our POLOs (Philippine Overseas Labor Office) in the Gulf to prepare a very comprehensive profile of our workers and their occupations there, while here at home, I have instructed all DOLE agencies involved in employment facilitation to also map out all available local jobs in preparation just in case there will be some reason for them to come, such as getting caught in the middle of the conflict,” Baldoz explained.
Based on the review by the POEA of the profile of deployed OFWs, about 32 percent of them are household service workers and other household-related workers, such as cleaners, who are considered vulnerable, but who can be absorbed in the local job market.
The other skilled workers are nurses, engineers, technicians, laborers, cleaners, electricians, drivers, mechanics, welders, waiters/waitresses, construction workers, service crew, carpenters, sales workers, supervisors, plumbers, painters, and machine operators.
“Including nurses and engineers, it is true that holders of these skills may receive less in salaries when they work in the Philippines, but their being in their homeland with their families cannot be equated with material value because the social cost of migration is incompensable,” said Baldoz.
She added that semi- or low-skilled workers can avail of the TESDA’s Training for Work Scholarship Program to become jobs-fit or job-ready for higher-paying occupations.
“We are also confident they can be successful if they go the entrepreneurial route. We can help cleaners, for example, organize themselves into community service enterprises that can render cleaning jobs,” she said.
OFW returnees who may opt to engage in livelihood can get assistance from the government through its numerous livelihood programs being implemented by various government agencies, such as the DSWD’s Reintegration Program for Deportees and Returning Undocumented OFWs and Self-Employment Assistance Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program and the DOST’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading.
In the DOLE, the livelihood programs are a component of the Assist WELL Program, now institutionalized and set up at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, National Reintegration Center for OFWs and in 15 DOLE regional offices. (PNA)