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Pinoy nurses, teachers won't feel lay offs in US and Europe


MANILA, Philippines - Filipino nurses and teachers would remain in demand in North America and Europe despite the global economic crisis. Ernesto Herrera, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines secretary general, said teachers, nurses, pharmacists, medical technologists, physical therapists and trained caregivers are still welcome in countries hardest hit by the economic meltdown. "If we examine closely the recent employment trends in North America and Europe, only their healthcare and education sectors are actually creating new jobs," said Herrera a former Senator and chair of the labor committee. Filipino nurses who acquire post-graduate training to qualify themselves in teaching posts are even more attractive to the US market, the TUCP officer said. More than 20,000 Filipinos strive to enter America's nursing profession every year, according to the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for unskilled Filipino workers such as domestic staff as well as semi-skilled laborers in construction, semiconductors and electronics, and the travel and hospitality industries, which Herrera said are "exceptionally susceptible" to job cuts. Since October this year, a total of 3,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Taiwan and Macaua arrived home jobless as casualties of the global meltdown increased. Many of the Filipinos laid off were factory workers while the rest worked in casinos and restaurants, Carmelita Dimzon, head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) told GMANews.TV on Monday. 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. 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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