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3,000 OFWs lose jobs due to crisis - OWWA


MANILA, Philippines - Since October this year, a total of 3,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) arrived home jobless as casualties of the global meltdown increased. Many of the Filipinos laid off were factory workers from Taiwan while the rest came from Macau, Carmelita Dimzon, head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) told GMANews.TV on Monday. “The numbers aren’t alarming but it’s a cause of concern," Dimzon said adding that about 3,500 Filipinos depart everyday for jobs overseas. Factory workers in semiconductor companies in Taiwan were among the hardest hit by the global economic crisis, the official said, adding that several workers in Macau’s Venetian hotel have already lost their jobs. Besides providing returning OFWs with livelihood programs, Dimzon said the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) would assist laid off workers by referring them to both local and overseas employment. These POEA referrals would assure them that they would be given hiring priority by employers, Dimzon said. For her part, Labor undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that only 1,400 Filipino workers in Taiwan have become jobless overseas due to the crisis. Baldoz told GMANews.TV that these OFWs came from Taiwan and they have not received similar displacements from other countries. Next: Contingency plan to mitigate impact of massive layoffs Contingency plan to mitigate impact of massive layoffs Earlier, the labor department said it has created a contingency plan to mitigate the effects of the expected massive layoffs of Filipino workers from around the world due to the US-led economic crisis. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also signed Administrative Order 248, instructing the labor department to make some P250 million available for the Filipino Expatriate Livelihood Support Fund to cushion the impact of the global crisis on OFWs who may be affected by retrenchments. Under AO 248, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the OWWA were directed to establish help desks in every province to match the skills of retrenched or aspiring expatriate worker with available jobs in the country and abroad. Economists predicted that the global economic meltdown would last till 2010, threatening more jobs for Filipinos overseas. Dimzon said they expect the continued retrenchments of OFWs until the Chinese New Year in February. Philippine government agencies have conflicting data on the number of laid off workers since October, when the meltdown’s effects became widespread. The DOLE maintains that no Filipino worker other than those in Taiwan had been laid off due to the crisis. Meanwhile, data collected by GMA News Research from the DOLE Information and Publications Service and the OWWA Repatriation and Assistance Division indicated that 2,247 Filipinos from four countries namely Australia, Brunei, Taiwan and the United Kingdom have been laid off as of December 15. - GMANews.TV
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