THERE is a big demand for Filipino workers in European countries like the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Denmark, and Portugal, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
The usual destinations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Hong Kong in Asia, and the United Kingdom.
DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan said the European countries want Filipino domestic workers, caregivers, barista, housekeepers, health workers, and those in tourism-related jobs, among others.
“They are impressed with the performance of our workers, their mentality, and their attitude. These are the usual reasons given to us why they want to hire more OFWs,” she said in a press briefing last week.
“We have been told that the demand for OFWs is all over Europe,” she also said.
In 2022, Asian nations hosted 80.8 percent of OFWs, while European countries have 9 percent of the OFWs.
In previous years, a large majority of OFWs were deployed to other Asian countries.
Philippine Statistics Authority records show that in 2022, about 23 percent are based in Saudi Arabia, followed by United Arab Emirates at 13.7 percent, Kuwait at 7.7 percent, Hong Kong at 6.1 percent, Qatar at 5.8 percent, and Singapore at 5 percent.
DMW Undersecretary officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said the increased demand for OFWs in Europe has prompted the Department to increase its efforts to establish bilateral labor agreements and sustainable recruitment frameworks.
“We are really welcoming the increased cooperation with our European counterparts towards having safe, ethical, transparent, fair labor mobility,” he said.
Cacdac warned job seekers against illegal recruiters.
“As we can see, these illegal recruiters we have been closing usually offer European jobs because those are really enticing victims,” he said.
