OFW deployment up by 25% in January

MANILA, Philippines - The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) rose by 25 percent in January 2009 as compared to the same month last year, data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed. A total of 165,737 Filipinos left for work abroad in January 2009 as compared to 132,285 in January 2008, or an increase of 25.3 percent., said the POEA deployment report. Of the number of workers deployed this year, land-based new hires accounted for 35,535, up from 32,173 in January last year. Likewise, the number of sea-based workers deployed increased from 32,544 in January 2008 to 38,529 this year. However, the contracts processed for land-based rehires decreased from 60,805 during the first month of 2008 to 41, 230 this year. The POEA report, meanwhile, also said that the 2009 deployment target is one million – 16.6 percent of which has already been achieved. It added that about 5,346 are being sent to work abroad daily. POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili has said that recent figures somehow “eased" the concern of the Philippine government about the possible decline of the demand for Filipino workers abroad amid the global financial crisis. She also said that 400,000 more job orders await Filipino workers overseas. - GMANews.TV